Love Me for Thirty Days
by Mozu The Mochi
Summary: "Make love to me every night, treat me like how you used to treat me before, hold me like how you held me for the first time and carry me in the arms every morning. Love me for thirty days before I really let you go." That was Tetsuya's deal before they could break off their relationship. AkaKuro nonetheless. Warnings inside. R&R
1. Prologue

**See Author's Notes at the end of the chapter.**

 **Warning : Kuroko no Basket doesn't belongs to me. This story may contain elements you don't like, such as heart breaking scenes, Akashi somewhat cheating with another girl and future divorce. And major plot twist at the end. Rated M for future smut, coming in Chapter One.**

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 **Love Me for Thirty Days**

 **Prologue**

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" _There is no such thing as a "broken family." Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time family becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those ties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people are your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your family because whatever you hate will always be with you."_

― _C. JoyBell C._

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There would be a day when the life you thought was filled with euphoria was false and replaced with something even worst. There would be a day when you thought life doesn't really revolve around you.

"Let's divorce."

It was unfair. That life had to be that way.

The words doesn't sound proper, doesn't feel it was right, doesn't feel like they came from Seijuurou's lips after all. Tetsuya had been taken aback, and with his glossy azure pools he was dumbfounded to see a firm-looking Seijuurou. This wasn't the Seijuurou he remembered, not the one he knew, not the one he loved since middle school years. This was the new redhead, descended from Hell to tell bad news about their marriage.

But he was true to his words. The latter had wanted to break off their everlasting – could it still be counted as lasting if it was to be like this? – marriage. The household they had built, the future they'd planned and dreamt like childish fools back then, shattered just by a mere two-word sentence. Tetsuya felt his fists clenching. He wanted to yell, to have his soon-to-be teary eyes plucked out and plunged into darkness, to be lying on the cold tiles amidst the winter season, lifeless. Because why? The question rounded his mind. Why was his husband doing this? Wasn't he good enough?

And the blunette felt the question rose upon his quivering lips.

"Because. . . my father said so."

"Then, why didn't your father said so eight years ago? Why must now?! Why must it was the time when everything was already _perfect_ ," he breathed out shakily, having crystalline droplets fell down to the cherub yet rosy cheeks, his cries coming down like a cloudburst, the argument a thunderstorm. He had pressed the word _perfect_ because, really, everything was already in places. Seijuurou was fine yesterday, and the days before, and the previous months – the last eight years.

So, why must it be happening now?

"A girl," was the response.

"A girl? You're cheating on –"

"It was for an heir for the Akashi family," he paused briefly, the tone similar, "My father. . . we. . . we didn't want our family clan to end just like that." _And sorry to say, that I've fallen to her more than I love you._

"So. . . you're throwing me away just because of some other slut can give you a baby?!" Gone was the gentle person, and the red-haired man found himself facing a demon, one that he created with his cheeks hinted scarlet and eyes that defy orders. "Or you're just scared to tell me I'm not good enough to be loved anymore! That. . . that I'm not good for you. . ."

"I didn't say that. . ."

"Oh, but you will." The blunette turned and sobbed and sighed. He had his fingers raked the soft, baby blue tufts stressfully. "Alright, _Akashi._ I'll let you go," finally, whispered the sobbing mess.

It actually sent the redhead baffled toward the straightforward response. Somewhere deep inside where there was still a place for his spouse, the redhead felt hurt and offended. He woke from his trance with his mouth agape, and somewhat dazed. Was it sarcasm or the sharp words sincere enough to be taken lightly?

The Akashi almost replied too hopefully. "R-really?"

"But under one condition."

Seijuurou snorted. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Tetsuya had been under his influence, had been living under the same roof, had been talking with him for God knows how many years long already. Since middle school, the only thing he vaguely remembered.

"Whatever it is, I'll agree to you because. . ." _It's the final deal._

Tetsuya smiled. If he'd have his old feelings returned, the redhead would melt under the blunette's charm, captivated by the intoxicating smile and had his breath abruptly halted just from the half-lidded but pallid blue eyes that gazed in tender and chaste mien. But tonight, the Akashi heir had been cold, unresponsive, heartless even. And he replied to nothing from the smile. Only, he scowled when the deal was presented to him. "Love me once more for thirty days."

"What is the meaning of this? That long –"

"Otherwise, I wouldn't allow you to break off our marriage. We'll be living under a roof but we'll be strangers. We wouldn't be talking to each other. Hell, I won't even look at you Seijuurou. And whoever that girl is, she could sleep at the lawn if you'd ever bring her home," anger and disgust slicked in the once soft voice, now it came like winter icicles stabbing the redhead's chest. He actually felt guilty. Tetsuya continued once he made sure his spouse had the mismatched chips glued against his own. He inhaled sharply and proceed, "So listen to whatever deal I'm going to put here."

"Fine."

It was a spat. Seijuurou putting that tone to his lover – a sign the world was near its end, it seemed.

"First of all, make sweet love to me every night; treat me like how you used to treat me before, tender and cautious like I'm supposed to be a fragile being. Hold me like how you held me for the first time. . . The night after the wedding ceremony," Tetsuya had his eyes closed as he smiled upon the recollection, "And. . . carry me every morning in your arms until you're about to go to work."

The red-haired lad flinched, honestly he did. The deal was either too much or incredulous. But for the sake of his future wife, for the sake of his family, for the future heir he was about to have, Seijuurou knew better than to refuse – and he was ready to risk his thirty days.

"Deal."

With the words said, the man stepped forward to the staircase and headed to their bed chambers. Tetsuya knew he'd be going to shower and sleep on his own, and did nothing to stop his said lover. Or soon-to-be ex-lover. Whatever.

The blunette froze on the soles of his feet, the thick rivulets streaming non-stop and he pulled his eyes closed. The hand clasping his lips did nothing to cease the loudness of his cries. Weak-kneed, he found himself sinking deeper till his buttocks greeted the floor. He was hoping it was all but a dream and when he wakes up, Seijuurou would give him the familiar, loving smile and swooped his feet down with a blissful kiss. But it wasn't happening. He knew that, despite his constant chants of _pinch me please_ under his ragged breaths. It wasn't a dream. No matter how much he blinked under the bright intensity of the chandelier, it was real. The deal was real. The words were real. _That_ Seijuurou had been real.

He huffed and glanced upon the dinner he had prepared, barely touched by the two of them. Their bickers had led them to this – no, Seijuurou's request had led them with no dinner, and a night spent with an empty stomach and a broken heart. Tetsuya sat down, alone, wiped his tears with the hems of his sleeves. Slowly and weakly, his staggering hands picked his chopsticks as he bid his prayers, long and hopeful and woeful and melancholy.

The white, sealed envelope wasn't yet delivered.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

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 **Mozu : Another new project of mine! Seriously, I have a lot of fanfiction ideas. But there are so many I couldn't write because I'm busy and sometimes the ideas were planned halfway. So, I was thinking if I might give to those who are willing to write with my fanfiction ideas in condition you have to give me the credits of storyline. It's like business, yeah.**

 **Anyway, you'd been warned that this fic is angst. Meaning, super angst. So please, if you're not prepared with a box of Kleenex and happy puppies beside you just please don't bash me later!**

 **EDIT 12/8/2015 : I changed the duration of their marriage to eight years! Take note of that! So, they're actually twenty-seven. There's a reason why I made them slightly older than before and it's a major reason~**

 **As per usual, X for love O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	2. Day One (Saturday)

**Fellow reviewers that healed my broken spirit :**

 **Ari – Aww don't be! I'm sure everything's gonna be alright!**

 **no name – That letter is a secret. *winks* And the bi too. XD Oh gawd you!**

 **Kuroiza Reika – And here's the update~!**

 **Guest – What is it? Oh please keep it to yourself don't spoil it *winks* XD**

 **Caithlinn13 – Ah yes, the next chapters you'll see will be okay. I guess. . . This is pure angst, my dear ^^" I can't guarantee you heavens here.**

 **Kiwi 3 – Oooh yes! You have prepared everything! *hands out sword* Now battle with me through this fanfic as we fight bitches upon bitches XD what am I saying omg?!**

 **Guest – Awww, thank you! Xs is my food~! *gobble Xs***

 **Jay Dawn – Your review have turned into a karaoke session it seems XD Oh dear you're always funny! *hands out metal armour and tissue boxes* you might need it. (._.) Let's just think that there's only one Akashi per generation XD after all, typical rich people doesn't have many children. Ah geez. I hope you don't stay mad for so long. . .*throws a stash of cute Akakuro pictures***

 **thepockywhowrites - Please, just don't stab me okay? XD**

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 **Love Me for Thirty Days**

 **DAY ONE**

 **SATURDAY**

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" _As Qhuinn looked at his best friend's handsome face, he felt as if he'd never not known that red hair, those blue eyes, those lips, that jaw. And it was because of their long history that he searched for something to say, something that would get them back to where they had been. All that came to him was . . . I miss you. I miss you so fucking bad it hurts, but I don't know how to find you even though you're right in front of me."_

― _J.R. Ward, Lover Mine_

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Today, the woman he was courting would come over from Kyoto to the central city of Japan. Seijuurou had felt the adrenaline and excitement once after he woke up from the early sunshine. He peered over his side to see the blunette's chest rose in a normal pace, indicating that he was still sleeping. He wouldn't want to answer a long list of dreary questions from his spouse after all.

Silently, he tiptoed out of the luxurious, king-sized mattress and headed straight to the bathroom, not at all bothered to bid the sleeping lad a wishful good morning.

So, Tetsuya was pretty much aggrieved when he wake up on a half-empty bed – or even worst, the whole residence was void of any people except for him. He would have to show the redhead the true words of his agreement soon or else there wouldn't be any more divorcement. Shrugging himself from the bed, he crawled downstairs with his bed hair intact and maya blue eyes groggy from the bad morning and went to make coffee.

In the very depth of his heart, he wished that at least the Akashi would leave him with a message. Perhaps, like a note against the fridge, a text message or a voicemail. But he was gone just as how he'd appeared last night, cold and firm and emotionless. The blue-haired man cringed against that thought and the recollections of last night memories. Neither was pleasant, and he found himself burning his tongue from the steaming, brewed coffee. His fingers almost pried against the surface of the mug or he would have his feet burnt. _Well, if it means by Sei-kun carrying me. That'd be great,_ he thought both in sorrow and mischief. He sighed involuntarily.

Morning flew like a feather in a strong blizzard. Tetsuya spent his Saturday cleaning the house willingly. He'd often clean when Seijuurou's presence wasn't in the house and it was so that he would be occupied whilst waiting _loyally_ for his husband to come home. Now, it was purely for stress relief. And he found himself cleaning twice the duration than he had intended, a range of four hours. The blunette glanced at the grand-looking clock that showed its digits landing towards one in the afternoon.

And he had forgotten his breakfast.

"It seems like Sei-kun won't be returning any moment soon," huffed poor Tetsuya in disdain. Settling his vacuum machine asides, he had stepped into the pantry to retrieve some ingredients and a bottle of wine. "Lunch time. . . alone. It's not that bad, I'm quite used to it," he tried to smile, the corners of lips forced to pull upwards but the merriment didn't quite yet reached his eyes.

Pouring the wine into two Bordeaux and raised one, Tetsuya wasn't bothered to wipe the crystalline droplets contrasting the dark colour of the red wine.

He sobbed and wished himself a happy weekend, gulping the remnants of drink in one round.

* * *

Evening came and ended, and Tetsuya could confirm the sun was soon to hit the horizon. It was then he had heard the rumbling noise of an engine from the outside but he didn't bother to make a move towards the door and displayed his usual greetings. Instead, he waited – he was waiting for the moment to be carried.

When Seijuurou entered the house, the blunette remained silent and still but the azure eyes watched every step, every movements and the eye contact. No sweet words were said, no loving gazes but a firm nod and stern glares. He had carried a sort of document filled with God knows what. Divorcement papers perhaps, Tetsuya wasn't one to care right now.

Instead, he childishly stuck out his arms like a baby waiting his mother to carry him to bed.

"The deal," he reprimanded flatly.

"The deal," confirmed the taller husband.

In an instant, Tetsuya felt his weight becoming lighter as he was swooped into the strong arms he had missed so much. He closed his eyes, savouring the moment, the feel, the touch – once that had been caring, carrying him like a fragile item, brimmed with cautiousness – and now, it was awkward, clumsy and almost was he to slip onto the floor. But Tetsuya had his arms circling the carrier's neck, and he placed his head onto Seijuurou's chest, listening to the rhythmic heartbeat. He hummed lightly before he noticed his back had met the soft mattress. Tetsuya bid his thanks with a smile, but there wasn't a response from the carrier.

Back then, the silence was a comfort, a sign of something else. A sign of longing and craving and wanting to every touch they made to each other and felt the erratic electricity feel that lingered against their skins. Their kiss would be chaste at the beginning, and then sloppy and wet to purely sinful. Seijuurou would memorise every curves that he had; snaking his hands to the chest, to the hips and finally to the lower region the two of them had been anticipating from the start. And he'd placed marks to the alabaster white skin – from the collarbone to the shoulder blades and peppered the hickeys like Tetsuya's body was a white canvas. Possessive and rough yet tender and loving and sweet and heavenly. Tetsuya would see stars and moaned the sweet sounds, and Seijuurou would indulge all the details of the voice he loved so much.

And now, the weekend which was supposed to be spent with just the two of them didn't quite fell into the right places. Seijuurou's kisses had been light and brief, there wasn't any tongues involved in a sort of dances and explores. The blunette knew of his refusal, and paid no attention towards such action. Such brief and tender pecks to the lips suffice for today's deal.

"Undress me," he ordered. And the man had been serving him more like a butler than a husband would do.

Seijuurou dipped his knee deep into the mattress as he towered over his spouse. Sure, he may have lost his feelings toward the blunette but such sight still gave him a hard-on kind of impact. Impatiently, he had peeled his own shirt as well and the garment landed somewhere in the corner, followed by two pair of pants at once.

"Do you need me to –"

"No, I'm used to your. . ." it came as a sob, "Just enter me already. . ."

". . . Alright."

With the order given for, Seijuurou pulled his member, long and thick, from the boxers still clad around his region. He had guessed the latter had prepared beforehand, and so he didn't question upon the orders. Still, he cringed against the thought and brought his fingers into the aching hole belonged to the submissive one. Tetsuya whined impatiently. Two fingers, three – and when he thought he heard Tetsuya screamed in pleasure (and slight pain), he knew he had reached the good spot. He hit the prostate multiple times again.

"Enough. . . I just want you. . ."

"Hm."

He slicked the long member with precum and saliva, and gave it a few long strokes. The blunette underneath watched with lustful eyes and a frown donning the glowing face. Positioning himself in a good position, he sheathed the apparently thick length into Tetsuya.

The room may have been filled with a string of wanton moans and whines coming from the two of them and the smell of sweat and sex. But it wasn't really a pleasant ride. Tonight, they were just having sex, but not making love to each other. Sure, Seijuurou had been increasing the speed of his thrusts and Tetsuya was taking him whole, his hands filling on his own member to climax as well but no sweet words were exchanged, no kisses and touches, no hickeys were marked. How surprising.

When their activity was ensured finished, the redhead didn't bother to stroke the blunette for comfort or whisper or anything. He only slipped into the duvet, dirty and slicked with their previous session, and grumbled himself to sleep. Fatigue consumed him but he suddenly heard Tetsuya whispering toward his ear;

"Sei-kun. . . no matter what, I still love you."

A pair of crimson and sienna shut closed, he gasped and swallowed. It was true now. He hadn't felt anything toward the confession – not a skip of a heartbeat, not butterflies pooling in his stomach – but pity and guilt settling in. He huffed.

"I'm sorry. . . I couldn't feel the same way for you."

"I know. . ." muttered the blunette weakly and tiredly.

Seijuurou didn't notice his spouse's cries as he hid his face underneath the thick covers, sobbing and weeping with his heart ached and longing.

That night, Tetsuya slept with a broken heart worse than before.

The white envelope wasn't yet opened.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

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 **Mozu : Lame smut, I know! I tried to cut the details because gosh you guys have to know I'm facing the remnants of the Holy month in a not-so-holy activity! I'll make it up next time, I promise! And it's 12AM. My back hurts from typing this since 10? Haha. Two hours facing the laptop ain't healthy. I need to go to sleep now.**

 **If you give me lots of X, then Akashi may have a change of heart and start loving Kuroko back. O means siding with the unknown girl. XD Seriously, suggest me names. Please~!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	3. Day Two (Sunday)

**Warnings : No smut, slight fluff (I'm placing bandages to your heart) and slightly short. Oh, and OOC cause I need to fit in personalities with the plot.**

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 **Love Me for Thirty Days**

 **DAY TWO**

 **SUNDAY**

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" _The loneliest moment in someone's life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly."_

― _F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby_

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It was a kind of morning that happened once in a lifetime, the time of the day that was supposed to be the busiest, loudest and chaotic – but silence fell into the Akashi residence. For once, Tetsuya felt a slightest weight lifted from the mattress and the semblance of warmth he felt previously had disappeared, leaving him in a pool of loneliness. He had wanted to speak; to wish a good morning, to ask him for breakfast, to say their loyalties toward each other yet he was caught with the words stuck in throat, and speechless was the man lying coldly on the bed. This being the first time as well he wasn't actually being spoken to. The feeling yet had to sink deep, heavy with pain tainting his heart and soul.

But Seijuurou was still quiet, unspoken.

Yet, Tetsuya watched him with still eyes, pallid blue to every movement. The redhead had been showing a lot of motion but never a word was muttered, and it left a stinging tense air between them. The said man with mismatched eyes had been moving fluidly; to the closet, to the drawer, snatching his belt, and next was the comb.

The blunette knew where he was going.

"You're not going to eat breakfast here?" He dared to ask despite the fact that he knew what response should he received.

Silence.

"Sei –"

"I'm going to meet her."

 _Her._

Again. Since yesterday – and the day before, again and again he kept on muttering about _her_. That woman, that cheating woman, that whore, that bitch! Tetsuya saw his knuckles turning as white as sheets as he balled his fists, clenching the bed covers hard.

It was a rare thing to see the blunette angry during mornings, but this time he felt steam smoking from above his head and Seijuurou sworn he saw scarlet all over his spouse's face, he dared to take a glance. But there wasn't anything useful to be said, and Tetsuya gritted his teeth and released a low growl, shuddering the other man with a bloodcurdling feeling.

"Fine," and he spread his arms wide so the other would catch him.

Seijuurou couldn't stop but thinking how childish this was; carrying the smaller one downstairs. It was just like their first month, after their lovemaking and Tetsuya had his lower region sore all over. During that moment, carrying him was one thing that he felt like doing the most. Back then, Seijuurou would marvel over the soft tufts in ripples of blue, adored to tug, twist, pull, stroked the short tresses. And he would simply love the scent of Tetsuya's hair, like cinnamon and something sweeter than honey – driving him with, again, arousal and that fluttery feeling.

Then, he imagined the lovemaking last night; it felt awkward, too wrong. They weren't making love, it was just plain sex, it was just pleasure, not love.

And Tetsuya in his arms was still strange, his arms aching to let go.

"You can place me on the couch," he heard the said blunette mumbled weakly.

"Hm."

"Will you be fine without breakfast?"

"Tetsuya, I told you. . . I'm going out. I can eat anywhere."

There was a brief pained look, before the redhead found himself in the closest gap between the blunette. Tetsuya leaned in forward, but his lips never touched the other – instead they stopped in a mere millimetres before he pulled away. The maya blue in his eyes had never been that solid before. Firm, opaque, undefeatable.

"I shouldn't be doing this," he paused firmly, "According to the deal we made, and that you _promised_ , you should be the one who shall kiss me."

"But –"

"Or maybe you'd like to stay home with me?" Tetsuya had that smile. The victorious smirk – Seijuurou's kind of trademark smirk during their high school years – curved on the soft lips, cunningly.

A string of sighs made their way to Seijuurou, and he shook his head. Why the childishness? He didn't know. For him, it was getting too troublesome – and he knew Tetsuya could read the air as much as he could. It was futile.

Still, he obliged without the complaints explained verbally but treasured into the depths of his mind. He had made a move forward until their foreheads touched, and he gave the soft lips a brief peck before rushing off to the door.

 _I'm sorry, I just couldn't._

Tetsuya was left, dumbfounded, his back meeting the fluff material of the settee.

* * *

" _Sei-chan_ , what's wrong?"

Sable tresses falling to the shoulder blades and blushed cheeks as the woman stared longingly at her soon-to-be spouse. He had that uneasy look on his face since morning and she wasn't at all pleased. Whatever Seijuurou had in his mind was supposed to be her concerns as well. But the man wouldn't budge nor spill a word and she had to be tormented with the tensed silence falling in between. She dropped the metallic fork with a clank, earning attention from said lover. Her obsidian eyes blinked, with the façade of dewy-eyed innocence she bore, and smiled sweetly.

"You're not answering my question," her tone flat, meant to be a threat.

But Seijuurou was an Akashi, mind you, and he wasn't swayed with either the tone or the look – he gave a similar, much worse response. "It wasn't necessary."

"Well then, stop being that mystery man and answer me for once," she bit her lip, and held his hands, emitting warmth between them, "I'm worried with you being like that. Your _otou-san_ wouldn't be pleased."

"You know you could cut around the chase and tell me about your uneasiness already," Seijuurou smirked in mischief. The woman was rather readable, judging from every creases and lines formed in her face. Woman – no matter how much make up they wore, they would never hid the true form of expression at most times. And this was included being one of those time.

Yamanaka Yui laughed, the sable locks fell as she did. "You know me too well, Sei-chan."

She dropped a few files to the café table, the papers hit the surface with a loud thud against the oak. The redhead, amused, arched one of his brows as his mismatched eyes meticulously inspected the documents.

"This is half of my property."

"Yeah," she smiled sweetly, "And this should fall onto the hands of Akashi – I mean, Kuroko Tetsuya. If you want to divorce him, at least give him something to support himself."

"Well, that's rare for a woman to actually not care about money."

"Sei-chan! I wouldn't marry you just because of that shallow reason!" She pouted childishly, and the redhead softened.

That day, he meant to talk to the raven about the deal he made but seeing her being rather bubbly like a sunshine she was supposed to be, he instead focused on making the day better for the two of them.

In the depths of his heart, the guilt that swelled told him that Tetsuya might marry him with reasons as similar, and much better than her.

* * *

Having half of the day spent with Yui was rather joyful. She was childish, yeah, but it wasn't the kind that bugged you to no end. Somewhere in her, she was still reasonable and rational and held a soft spot for kindness (yeah right, maybe).

And then, there were moments of the day he had to endure with sore arms and back and the twin pools of azure which supposed to look monotonous, but of course the pang of hurt briefly contacted with his own heterochromia eyes.

The sight of Tetsuya sleeping was serene enough. Meaning, enough privacy for him to actually have some peaceful thoughts. Still, he had to give the blunette the documents given by Yui.

"Tetsuya. . ."

There was a slight growl from the slumbering man, his fingers starting to curl and the lids moving. Gentle as he could, the taller lad had tapped the other's shoulder again, pulling him into the waking world.

"Sei –? You're back. . . Welcome home. . ." the blunette yawned and stretched, his eyes took a short glimpse at the wall clock, showing that it was already past midnight. He felt the morose sunk inside his chest but he continued to smile toward his spouse. "What is it?"

The redhead looked upon the sight in front. Dishevelled bed hair (Tetsuya had the worst bed hair but long ago he thought it was adorable), and red-rimmed cerulean twin pools gazing tenderly at his direction. The guilt was visible, swallowing him, eating him, rotting him. Now, Seijuurou had started to develop doubts whether he would end up in Heaven or not.

He placed the documents on the coffee table, without a word, his feet made their way closer to the couch in opposite of Tetsuya's direction. The blunette at first looked bewildered, then angry. Tetsuya wasn't an idiot, the fact didn't include with being with Seijuurou at most times – he wasn't naïve as he looked. That being said, Tetsuya had the papers torn into shreds and pieces, violently he tore them like it was a curse, spellbound by hatred.

"I don't want it," he barked angrily and quickly he reeled away from the previous spot.

Quick and nimble, the red-haired man had bound one of his wrist, his hand desperately clasped around the frail flesh belonged to the smaller lad. It took the redhead by surprise but he held his gaze firm and strict despite the fact that he was shaking.

Guilt.

Anger.

Desperate.

Indifference.

Their relationship was broken just as the two of them were right now. Eye contact was made but it was filled with such vex, not benevolence or infatuation or possessiveness. There wasn't anything possessive about this argument, it was a matter of letting go.

"Why? She wanted you to have it. Can't you at least be happy with what I'm trying to give you?!"

"I don't want your money!" Tears ran down the blunette's cheeks, for once he didn't mind, "All these years and you think I'm that desperate for. . . for _that_? I love you because it's you. Because we made vows and I live with that vows. I'm still here because it's you, it's us and this doesn't include any whore!"

Tetsuya sobbed, an arm covered the glossy eyes. "Let's just keep with our promise, okay?"

". . . Okay."

The blunette, hollow and cold, felt the dread coming to his throat like bile. He cowered away; away from the seething Seijuurou with his eyes closed and attention rallied upon the scene. He didn't expect to have strong arms circling around him and had his head touching awkwardly against a broad chest.

When pallid blue became visible, he was met with a red-faced Seijuurou – as red as his hair itself.

"A part of the contract," he muttered awkwardly and he lifted the blunette high into the air before convincing him against the strong arms.

To be honest, he wasn't yet used to the sensation of carrying the blunette this time. Years ago, he had been a former athlete and to top it all, a captain but what can you do now once you were twenty – and all you do was to face people and documents and the computer screen for hours. Nothing productive about fitness at all, thus explained the soreness he was feeling.

Though, it was just the second day, his mind had spoken. They had just started after all, so it wasn't exactly a need to rush things forward. Still, it would be great if this deal wouldn't exist, or at least, ended. Another three weeks and a few days, and this would be over.

Once again, the semblance scent of cinnamon hit his nostrils as he sniffed the air. The smell of Tetsuya had yet to soothe his nerves, and he felt himself – once tensed and depressed – relaxing and lethargic, his footsteps becoming languid. Not that he would have admitted out loud regarding of the thought, though.

"I didn't expect you to do this willingly."

An involuntary sigh, "I guess I'm guilty after all and I didn't want to break any promises."

Tetsuya said no more. Once his back met the creaking (such old) mattress, he felt the sleepy sensation crawled back in. It only felt like a second, when the taller lad decided to peer toward the other side of the bed he noticed the serene look forming upon the demure visage of said spouse.

Somewhere in his heart, a feeling started to spark like small flames igniting.

Yet, the white envelope – such important item – was almost forgotten and misplaced.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : You all review like crazy. I have no power to PM each and every of you nor will I response to everything in here! But most of you said the same things, like the prompt and all. Yeah, I take it from that. I just didn't wanna tell you cause some might be searching for it. Words go on pretty fast, it seems. AND YET. I'm not following the entire plot of the true story! HAH! I'll make it sad my own way! But will Kuroko live or not? *laughs* I don't know about it myself. Hehee 3**

 **I'll fix this chapter some other time. It's rushed because it's 1AM and my mum is telling me to go to bed. And anyway, why I update quite late was because I have two things running for the whole two weeks – my sister's engagement (my boo is taken away by a man *cries*) and prefects installation. Both are sad events cause it means I lost people I cared the most. And my seniors are retiring from duty! *cries more***

 **Anyway, thanks for those who gives me X! And that person who gives me the name Yamanaka Yui~! Haha. I'll try to update more! X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	4. Day Three (Monday)

**Warnings : Akashi may not be in this chapter, like physically. *runs off***

 **CREDITS :**

 **AyakiStory**

 **miki565**

 **HTTYD-PJATO-ROGT-41185**

 **Akakuro Seiya**

 **Jay Dawn**

 **GreenLavender**

 **Visitor from ao3**

 **Deepper**

 **nat04otakufor**

 **Peculiar-Pizza-Muncher**

 **sozoushiyouXD**

 **Scarlet Aki-chin**

 **atwq**

 **Abaevi**

 **Purified Sins**

 **Reinella**

 **Belle'Masque**

 **Aziichi**

 **XienRue**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY THREE**

 **MONDAY**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 _"That's why I've come up with a theory." Naruto's sapphire eyes were so serious they looked like tossing waves in the ocean. "I've thought about it until it finally made sense. I found an answer to the question of why people can love and hate so easily. There simply is no such thing as love. What we have is 'habitual infatuation', as I like to call it. We find someone we like, we stay with them for a while, we decide they're compatible with us, and they know us. Change is scary, and familiarity is a soothing feeling. We mistake that familiarity, mixed with our infatuation and lust, as what we've come to refer as 'love'."_

― _Quinn Anderson, Habitual Infatuation_

* * *

From the statistics of people that had undergo through processes of marriage and had been faced with its ups and downs; once you were married, the love you previously felt seemed to have fade away. The intimacy you once displayed toward your partner, your lover, your supposed-to-be everything would deteriorate until there was no more, a need no longer required to show affection to.

Marriage was, well, not what one would expect from. To whom who had dreamt every single things, from building up the strong relationship to having children – I'd say this straight to the point – it may or may not happened. Of course, statistics showed percentage increased on the negative side. Simply to put, reasons varied from one and another; like one may feel the affection gradually turned to boredom, and then to a pure blank emotion that most of the times, your lover may not be the one you knew after all but in actual truth you knew a lot; many things! – about your lover. Or perhaps, you could put it in a way your lover may not be the one you expected him or her to be; not the one you hoped, idolised and dreamt of. It was proven that once you knew the person too well, love wasn't really love to begin with. Most people mistook comfort as a sign of love. They spent quality time together at most times till they felt that they could talk about anything to the other person; and so, a bind was created.

Though fate and life may not always be kind, they can always be cunning, outsmarting people.

They said love was made from the heavens, a work done by angels carrying heart-shaped arrows and blew magical kisses and miracles but they had forgotten, thunders and storms also do come from the heavens too.

This implied to the household Tetsuya had been living in.

For seven years of his marriage, he had expected everything was supposed to be fine. Well, they were supposed to be fine because they were fine the years before. Sure, the first year went by with days they would never forget about their constant shares of kisses and cuddles, the numerous rounds they went – young and wild and foolish. But after that, both never took notice that the intimacy and fervent touches gradually dwindled till their own definition of _fine_ was nothing but the dull, three-sentence chats and silent dinner moments. Whilst Tetsuya found comfort in home, Seijuurou found his unleashed in the outside world.

Hence of what happened.

Truth to be said, the blunette had never noticed about it until today. He had never noticed about the lacking in their relationship, and their non-existent and flawed effort on finding a solution for their mistakes. He had never noticed how messed up they both were, that the strings of their supposed to be strong bonds were loosen up – and that they were already broken to begin with.

Such memories came in his dreams. The time when Seijuurou came home from work, and all that he'd do was to ask for his day and then they were quiet – and then he ignorantly raced somewhere to read. The time when Seijuurou exclaimed an opinion and he'd fought back; and debates ensued leading them to sleepless nights yet daylight greeted upon the next day, they continued on unresolved and forgotten.

He had come to ignore the fact that his life had darken into thunderstorms and hurricanes, yet he was still gazing upon soft tufts of white clouds and rainbows.

Seijuurou knew well he did too;

They just had realised the fact that they both were nothing but ignorant, inane fools.

* * *

Because of that, Tetsuya had woken up quite late; well, not too late for morning chores but late enough to see that a certain redhead wasn't beside him anymore. It had been a known knowledge that Seijuurou left early in the morning – and now he knew the reason – was because of a particular woman, destructor of relationship.

For some reason, all he felt was as if a space had been left blank in his chest. Perhaps, he was too tired for today. Still, it was enough for the blunette to sniffle for a moment, both hands covering his face and all he could wondered was what his deepest remorse in this relationship.

Was it a mistake to marry the redhead after all? Was it a mistake to be doing that kind of a deal? He left the questions undone, his mind acrimonious as if someone was drawing scribbly lines on a piece of paper.

For now, what was important was to be a good, submissive spouse and set a better examples for every wives to follow (according to some traditions, supposedly).

Staggering, his tired feet brought him to get dressed and went down for a lonesome breakfast. Frankly, every day was a lonesome breakfast ever since his lover, the redhead, began to get busy. Most of the times, the blue-haired male found comfort amidst the silence – it was warm, it was soothing. Most of the times, his feelings were cured because Momoi Satsuki's little girl would come here and he'd babysit.

Often, he found it funny how a five-year old companion was any better than his actual spouse; how a friend sprang at his doorstep for an hour of a visit was any better than the usual oddness and tense of hours and days – and God can he handle the weekends? – with the Akashi heir himself. Satsuki and her child, bearing the name of their national flower – and boy, did it suit the beautiful child he came to know too well; became his greatest support in life. It was funny how once the squealy high school girl he knew became a matured woman in a matter of time, continuously giving him support and advices – and gradually, she rivalled Kagami Taiga in terms of cooking.

And of course, like any other Mondays – both pink-haired woman and girl appeared at the front porch, the taller one sputtering something and the other running around, clad in glittery ballet shoes and bright yellow evening sundress.

"Tet-chan!", as usual Satsuki would greet him like that. Sure, the high school crush and false intimacy had disappeared by now but they were replaced with some sorts of sisterly mien. "You've gone skinnier! What happened?!"

"Um, nothing exactly –"

"Nothing you said? Look at this! You're not eating properly again," She grabbed him by the wrist, flailing the left one like a broken branch.

The blunette sighed, "I am. Right now, for your information."

He found it was amusing, once he gave the meek response Satsuki peered over his shoulder to see the not even half-eaten breakfast and she shook her head in disapproval.

"I smelt pancakes! And butter and honey!" The little girl had piped in, threshing her arms excitedly, looking as bubbly that constantly reminded the blunette like Kise-kun. Without shame, she tugged the hems of his white shirt. "Can I eat it? Can I eat with you? C'mon, grown-ups shouldn't eat alone! _Okaa-san_ said eating alone is bad for your health."

Her mother shook her head, helpless with her antics but neither did she comment them, only that a frown marred on her clear face. Instead, she threw a glimpse at the smiling blunette, feeling even more helpless when it came to her ex-crush.

"I'm sorry about her. Sakura actually had breakfast three hours ago, I don't even know why she's hungry again."

"Because I love pancakes!"

"Oh quiet, for _Kami's_ sake."

The blunette laughed, heartily and bright and the first for the day – that an upright curl was brought upon the demure yet exhausted visage. If Satsuki had been sixteen again, she would found herself melting upon the expression and had her face spread in tenfold of crimson shades, weak-kneed and googly-eyed. But now, she felt rather contented than infatuated. The moment felt like hours for her, despite the actual short duration.

"It's okay, Momoi-san. . . I think I have extras by the way. Would you like to have some?"

"Oh no. . . I'm just about to go to work. Well, I actually wanted to ask you for a favour and it's really about Sacchan?" For a brief moment, the woman looked hesitant. "I think it's one of the big favours again, if you don't mind?"

"I'm sure I don't mind."

"Well, can you take care of Sacchan for a. . . a week? Cause you know, I might have to go to. . . to Milan, again, for the. . . you know business stuffs?"

 _A week? With Seijuurou and me in the current state?_

"Oh, okay then."

 _Why would I agree to that?_ Then again, anything that included Sakura was difficult to deny on. Tetsuya agreed with his thought inwardly, lips pursed into a straight line, obviously showing concern. Satsuki was only disregarding it; she knew better than to interfere the one who donned the name Akashi.

"Don't worry, it's not today. I'm. . . I'm leaving next week."

"Okay, Momoi-san. . . I'll do it cause it's Sakura-chan."

She huffed heavily, like a weight was lifted from her shoulders and she had them squared and almost did she hugged the short male. The pink-haired woman had been bowing and spouting a lot of thanks like a mantra; if Tetsuya lived in a cartoon world he would have imagined having the sweat drop sign on the back of his head.

A few moments later, the pink-haired left the Akashi residence, having to drag the wailing Sakura away from delicious pancakes and giving the child promises of returning to the house again. Again, Tetsuya was left alone.

But he always had wondered, why the child preferred the lonely penthouse sometimes was like a rhetoric question itself; unanswered. Of course, he had taken care the child since she just a toddler, and instead of her own mother, he had witnessed more of her first times. There was even a period where Sakura had called him _chichiue_ and mistook Seijuurou as her real father. The redhead was devastated at first, but occasionally opened up toward the little girl. Nobody could refuse such huge, grey-blue eyes.

It was one of the memories worth treasures, as long as the blunette could remember.

After experiencing the temporary companion, time poured on like running water, fast and transparent. Once again, the blue-haired male busied himself with housework and occasionally, he went out to meet Ogiwara or groceries till the skies outside was a brilliant orange-blue hue, painting the view of the outskirts of town, and reflected its rays upon the tossing waves of the ocean, painting every scene with amber and rich golden shades.

How pitiful. . . He dimly remembered the times when he and Seijuurou would gaze upon the sunset, mesmerising the view the sun was sinking into its horizon as if dipping itself for a swim in the vast, turquoise-aquamarine ocean. And they'd hold hands; the redhead would whisper all the good promises into his ear – not caring how false could it be till now.

And night dawned too fast for Tetsuya, he became anxious. The night was dark, the glows of the moon hidden partially by the thick, invisible clouds. Patiently, he waited for the sounds of rattling keys and the door to flung open to reveal his companion.

But he never come.

Half past ten.

He wasn't home yet. Gone was the man, seen not even a shadow, not a silhouette.

Eleven sharp in the night.

The blunette was getting much exhausted and very, very impatient. He watched the TV, sent some missed calls and texts, prancing about every corners of the room whilst the azure eyes, not a single moment when he wasn't the least concerned. And when the clock stretched their thin arms to the upmost digits, he found himself in despair – and that was when the blunette knew he had to give up.

Seijuurou wouldn't come home.

Of course, not when everything was tense and bitter and stormy; and all they could be was a helpless fool. Of course, in every rational man's mind, a household like this was worth leaving for.

Yet, the blunette sunk deeper to the floorboards right on the doorstep where he would gaze upon the entrance door, waiting and waiting and waiting. Waiting for what, he actually did not know. A miracle? Some kind of changes? Impossible.

" _Kami_. . . Just what had I done to deserve this?!" It came out louder than what the owner the voice expected. For a man with a few words, he sure had shouted loud enough to reach the neighbours' residents.

Blank yet painful, bitter yet hopeful, he sunk deeper, forehead touching cold wood and had his lips curled till it was more than a bitter frown. That night he sobbed harder than he used to. That night, he screamed his lungs out. That night, he wished for oblivion.

That night, Tetsuya had regretted for being an Akashi.

And he had the envelope ripped, the contents went to the trash bin – oblivion.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Oh my God! WHAT HAVE I DONE?! WHY THE HELL AM I CRYING?! I'M SORRY. I'M SORRY! PS, Satsuki and Sakura are major characters along with Kagami and Ogiwara.**

 **Um, I'm sorry for having not updated for weeks. I was actually working out on a oneshot called Odium, which I only have typed two major scenes (it has lots of sex, painful sad sex everybody) yet I have reached 3k of words. Achievement of the year! I'm working hard to achieve that skills of writing extremely long stuffs again.**

 **And anyway, a little bit of help! I, Mozu, have ran out of quotes! Can you please suggest me quotes and put it in a review box. Then, it'll be easy for me to update then spending a week searching for worthy words.**

 **Anyway, quote for this chapter actually came from Fanfiction itself! See, I ran out. So I used Quinn Anderson's quotes from one of her stories; Habitual Infatuation which is a SasuNaru fanfic and that fanfic is hawt!**

 **SHAMELESS ADVERTISING!**

 **READ Quinn Anderson's fanfics now! Read Habitual Infatuation if you want some progressing relationship stuffs! Dayum.**

 **Read Quinn's In Excess which you have to buy but it is not available in Malaysia unfortunately and also not in Tuebl but still you gotta read it cause Nik and Seth are hot baes (according to Goodreads reviews)!**

 **Read The Push and Pull Relationship if you love Eleanor and Park!**

 **Prepare yourself for Odium cause that story is bomb! (lame ad hahaha)**

 **X FOR LOVE, O FOR HATE AND BASHING WARNS. PEACE. LOVE YOU. LIKE SERIOUSLY, I LOVE AND FEAR YOU ALL.**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	5. Day Four (Tuesday)

**Wonderful Reviewers :**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Hello**

 **Visitor from ao3**

 **Akashi Seiko-chan**

 **Akakuro Seiya**

 **Tetchin**

 **Q**

 **fan**

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 **Guest**

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 **Since all of you are commenting the same thing, I was thinking of just replying it short. So yeah, maybe Tetsuya will find his happiness~ Idk~ Am I evil? No. I'm just messed up. XD AND THANK YOU FOR THE Xs! I love you all. :3**

 **Note : I think I have encountered with the most suitable quote for this story. Ermaiiguuudness. Oh, OOC warning here I guess.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY FOUR**

 **TUESDAY**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _I think you still love me, but we can't escape the fact that I'm not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I'm not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I'm not angry, either. I should be, but I'm not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong."_

― _Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun_

* * *

What would a guilty person do when he or she was countered with the biggest mistake he or she had conducted?

That question itself led to numerous – a variety of – responses and answers and conclusions. Some would riposte a few common suggestions; like running away, because for some humans, forgetting their problems was the easiest and what they concluded was that they should enjoy life. In their cases, it was as if they were given thousands of weights upon their arms and what they did was literally – _literally_ – threshed them away, not even a conscience. But some other would have the heart to actually solve their mistakes, no matter how long a journey would take, to make things right was essential to their lives. Of course, opinions varied, debates had ensued – like most humans would do; they would always find ways to categorise themselves and fought for which one was better. Yet statements are words, written or spoken, not actions done in reality.

How many was it, in percentage, had humans came upon actions than words?

Movies were made to set good moral values in their contents. But then, why would people need to take morals from work of fictions when their own rational mind could actually think of it?

Come to think of it; an American psychologist had changed his thesis before demise had kissed upon his soul, stating that humans are all the same, it was just that there were six billion ways of expressing a person.

Everybody in the world might face this problem, in fact, even a priest could be a sinner; we, as humans, weren't the epitome of perfection. And everyone, in my opinion, might had felt the hesitation, might as well had taken the backward steps. Humans have fear, alright, and not a single person had never felt the fear to confront others before.

Apparently, there was Akashi Seijuurou.

A man known for his absoluteness, a man known to never defy, a man known like an emperor in his glorious days, showered with victories and ecstasy. Yet even a man like him hadn't managed to escape from such fear; and there was he, outside of a pouring Tuesday, looking as if he might be facing with the deadliest demon buried in Earth, face as if he was going to meet a priest for a confession. And worse yet, was his hands shaking like he might drop any object he could grip. Unfortunately, even the door knob glistening in shiny silver looked venomous and full of thorns.

Even if he had lost his feelings, he wished not to hurt the blunette's feelings. Although, he might as well already did the previous night.

There was no escape now, even when his legs – if they could speak – was begging to be reeled away from the door. But the man stood still, heels firm and proud against the limestone, and composure fixated at the most monotonous façade he could ever make of.

Again, his hands trembled when one was close to the knob. Reaching it felt like it took hours, whilst he had been standing for thirty minutes, figuring whether he should return or not.

The redhead had no intentions to be a bad man; he wasn't going to be the cheating man who abused the other. He was a man with dignity and respect, and he would keep it – selfish or not.

But before he could actually open the front door by his own, the knob twisted by itself and when open, as expected, revealing the shorter male; puffy-eyed and exhausted as Hell. And of course, not to mention the displeased look – maya blue contorted with a deep plunge of hurt and offense. Seijuurou had never felt such bitterness dwelling inside his chest.

"Tetsu –"

"I don't want to hear it," huffed the blunette, fixing the soft blue strands plucking to his cherub cheeks (how he maintained such soft texture of his cheeks, even the redhead couldn't figure it out), "If you feel like you wanted to be at home, then be it."

 _So he was mad? Obviously._ "Tetsuya, I'm sorry."

"No, no, no. I get it, you don't have to apologise." But his voice shaky, Seijuurou knew how weak Tetsuya was in terms of emotions.

"Still –"

Before the words could escape from the tip of his tongue – it was really, really, really at the tip to be honest – the Akashi heir witnessed a horrifying action; just for a brief moment, he had his mismatched eyes widened when the lithe figure in front of him collapsed out of the blue. He witnessed; just a second before; how the sky blue pools rolled back and his legs went limp. Almost – fucking almost did the blunette fell flat to the ground. Luckily, with his fast reflexes built up over the years, he managed to caught the red-faced blunette by his arms.

First time in his life of twenty-eight years, the redhead was clueless.

"Tetsuya. . ."

He shook the unconscious man, his skin shivered once he realised the extreme chill wrapping over the already pale skin of his spouse.

"Tetsuya – Tetsu – wha. . . what happened?!"

The man ran toward his car, a silvery-white shade to the BMW he proudly owned without his father's finances. Quivering, he placed the limp body at the back seat, making sure the unconscious man was actually comfortable despite his absence of wake. Even if his feelings disappeared, into thin air they did, but the tender care was still in presence, surprisingly.

It was too early for the morning sun; beneath the pouring shower, the car drove across the lane too fast.

Somewhere deep in his mind, a part of him whispered that he shouldn't lose Tetsuya just yet.

* * *

It was a fever.

The doctor sprang into the ward with a clipboard tucked in between his arm, glasses thick like the knowledge he had; stating that the poor blunette had been too stressed and worked too much that his body couldn't take any burdens anymore. The doctor's statement itself – a simple declaration – was enough to make the Akashi heir felt culpable. Similar shades of scarlet spread over his cheeks till it reached to the tip of his ears, just how shamefaced he was. Deep inside, all he wanted to do was to hide from Tetsuya.

But a man's ego was stronger, they said.

His feet was twitching, begging to run, but he stood firmly, ready to face the blunette with their current problems.

But even when he brought Tetsuya home, the shorter male – he was light as Hell – was still in deep slumber, refusing to budge. Even when the fresh rays greeted, flashing about his eyelids, he was still snoozing, curled beneath the thick duvet like a child he was supposed to be.

And loyally, though it was such a surprise, Seijuurou waited beside the bedridden man. He should be out by now, greeting workers and colleagues, attending meetings and such; but even a busy man like him stayed home; hoping, waiting. . .

"Oh God, what have I done. . .?"

It was just a fever, yet his heart was heavy with concerns.

Despite the constant calls from Yui, he refused to leave the sleeping blunette's side. The redhead could imagine how the woman would childishly puffed her cheeks, and _Kami_ , women's lectures were the worst. Still, he sat on the empty space of the spacious bed, wondering how the times when Tetsuya slept beside him – the hollow and lonely feeling was still there.

Again, the question appeared; was marriage a wrong choice?

It was when Seijuurou went to the kitchen, reality kissed the blunette into his wake. Gasping, like he ran out of air, the blunette awoke with a startled jump and a semblance of warmth spreading to his legs. His head cocked, soft blue tufts bounced as he did so, upon the sight of the familiar bedroom and white duvet on top of him.

Why was he tucked in bed? The blunette vaguely remembered what happen a couple of hours ago – or was it minutes? – a day? – what time is it?

"Yui. . ."

The voice was loud enough to reach inside the bedroom. Upon hearing the name, the scornful frown stretched toward the blunette's lips and the hurt look returned. He sunk deeper into the sheets, covering his head even so, sulking like a child.

"– tonight? No, I. . ."

 _He's going out again,_ thought Tetsuya, burying his face, cheeks blazed in crimson from extreme body heat and anger.

"I'm sorry, I can't."

The redhead might had put the call in loud speaker, certainly because Tetsuya could heard a woman's shriek from the opposite line, spouting a bunch of nonsense and sputtering a lot of _why's_. Somehow, a devilish, cheeky side of him felt amused how Seijuurou could handle such attitude.

"I can't leave Tetsuya alone."

 _Oh._

His chest twisted into a different kind of pain.

 _What is this feeling?_

" _WHAT?!"_

"I'll see you tomorrow."

The line went dead.

Then, there was the usual string of huffs and sighs. The sounds of stomping feet raging nearer to the door and perhaps, the redhead might had broken a glass throughout the process. The door flung open, revealing a seething, red-faced Akashi Seijuurou gazing upon an amused Tetsuya with wearing a rare kind of smile. Was it mockery? – Seijuurou suspected it was indeed.

"Must be funny for you."

"I guess so – yeah, it is. . ."

"You must have loved my misery."

"I never said that."

"Oh, but I know you feel that way."

Sapphire clashed into pools of raw crimson and sienna. Every time they wanted a conversation, it would lead to some sort of an argument. To be honest, it was tiring. Both of them agreed to that. And you know, in this common, monochrome world – a man took action, the submissive one wept in remorse.

"What's that?" Tetsuya decided to change the topic, avoiding further tension.

The redhead glimpsed briefly, gulping; "Food. And this time, you need to finish it. I just. . . you know. . . I don't like it when you're sick. You actually frightened me in the morning. . . I guess?" The redhead was uncertain of his words, but he held his blush; "Just. . . I cooked hard for it. Please, eat it."

"Oh."

That was it.

Well, because. . . there wasn't anything better to be said. Or rather, it was too awkward to say it. It felt wrong the moment you wanted to bid your thanks, but then when you thought about it, the word was yet foreign in your mind dictionary. Because, you simply never really did say thanks for the other one in reality, now it was just like any other moment but it just felt slightly heavier than usual.

Or perhaps, Tetsuya was too stunned – too touched – too much indulging the foreign feelings he had yet received. It felt rare, it felt warm, it was giddy, it was gleeful. And all that he wanted to do was to hide beneath the covers and giggle like a high school girl.

It just felt nice.

And he had slept wonderfully – _Kami!_ – he slept till dusk was about to greet the world, and the sun rushing back to its home. Amidst the weather, the night might be cold. Yet, the warmth spreading inside him yet had to become a semblance in the interim. Tetsuya stayed in bed, his knees curled to a comfortable position, watching the latter doing his chores instead and preparing meals. Honestly, it was amusing and whimsical and joyous – at the same time, yeah – to watch. Gleaming pools of sapphire showed a lot of hints of amusement, and they twinkled; for a brief moment, Seijuurou felt that kind of sparks he felt when he first met the blunette.

The redhead stirred the thoughts, clearing his throat as he did so.

"So. . . um, you're okay now?"

"I guess so."

"Feeling warm?"

"Yeah. . ."

The redhead went closer.

"Do you want anything else?"

The blunette thought for a moment, then afterwards the redhead witnessed the pale cheeks turned scarlet over something. Dazed, he saw the blunette shaking his head.

". . . Well, just stay here, I guess. . ."

The Akashi heir had his heart skipped a beat. The mismatched orbs opened wide enough to state surprise, and he softened his gaze.

"I won't leave. I promise."

Not much was said that night. Simply as if their problems never really existed. Yet again, intimacy was still lacking and they just stayed at two opposite ends of the bed, feeding thoughts after thoughts to distress.

Of course, it was tense as usual. But it was a different kind, like they wanted to say something but they couldn't.

And at last, Tetsuya was the one to break the still surroundings.

"Hey. . ." he whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Hm?"

The blue-haired male had his face buried in between his knees, but the redhead was sure he was blushing – the tip of his right ear was bright crimson after all.

"I just wanted to say. . . t-thank you for today."

"For what?"

"You. . . you stayed. For me. . . Today, you chose me after _her_."

The redhead gulped. What was this odd emotions lingering in him? "I just do what I have to do, Tetsuya."

The blunette just smiled. It was gentle, tender, full of care, full of love; the Akashi just knew of it.

He felt hot all over, not just the room itself, not just his blazing cheeks but all over his body was warped with an intense heat he couldn't figure out. And the redhead found his face leaning closer and closer till the tip of their noses brushed against each other; closer again till their foreheads met; closer once more until they felt their lips touching, till the distance was no more than a small gap for a chance of breathing. And they kissed like they were in pain, like tomorrow was the end of the world, like any of them would die any minute. They kissed for what felt like eternity, but in reality, it lasted mere seconds. Yet, it felt like they had claimed the entire world into their own empire. God, he actually missed kisses like this.

When they broke apart, Seijuurou was shocked – and he had that uncertainty wearing on his expression again.

"I. . . I'm sorry. . . I can't. Just. . . Not yet."

"Wait – why did you –"

Once again, Akashi Seijuurou fled for the night.

This time, Tetsuya didn't stop him. He, too, was clueless for his own good.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Poor letter didn't make a cameo in this chapter. Hehee! Should this be the last update of the month? I don't know. You guys didn't give me 90 reviews after all! *pouts***

 **Hahaha! Nah, that's just an experiment thingy. I witness few authors doing that and they really do get the number of reviews they wished for. Soooo ~ Let's make this baby a hundred? If it's 100 reviews, then perhaps I'll think of a smut in the right scene. Or fluff. You choose. *laughs***

 **I'm replaying Gaia Online once again. Old memories. . . *cries***

 **X FOR LOVE! O FOR HATE!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	6. Day Five (Wednesday)

**Holy angels, kind and beautiful support thee gave me :**

 **miki565**

 **Reinella**

 **Guest 1**

 **Guest 2**

 **Guest 3**

 **Animadicct**

 **Gly**

 **HTTYD-PJATO-ROTG-41185**

 **XienRue**

 **Akakuro Seiya**

 **Guest 4**

 **Visitor from ao3**

 **Unexisted user**

 **chocoball**

 **TheAmericanGit**

 **Guest 5**

 **NekkiYaoi**

 **rhizz17**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Hairu**

 **Bananas102**

 **Abaevi**

 **Ninoko96**

 **anilikz0985**

 **Hwang Reepetra**

 **Purified Sins**

 **NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU**

 **KurokoTetsuya0124**

 **EmptyNothingness**

 **VanillaLithium**

 **otomezone**

 **. . .**

 **From author-nim! : Thank you for making my baby a hundred and more reviews! Odium is a painful gift to give, I realized. I'll give two updates within a week then! Oh, by the way. I think I found a good quote again! Haha!**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY FIVE**

 **Wednesday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _It often occurs that pride and selfishness are muddled with strength and independence. They are neither equal nor similar; in fact, they are polar opposites. A coward may be so cowardly that he masks his weakness with some false personification of power. He is afraid to love and to be loved because love tends to strip bare all emotional barricades. Without love, strength and independence are prone to losing every bit of their worth; they become nothing more than a fearful, intimidated, empty tent lost somewhere in the desert of self."_

― _Criss Jami, Killosophy_

* * *

Humans created images to satisfy others' desires of what they imagined one to be at most times. It was not because they wanted to, rather it was a necessity for them to keep themselves from the bay of social dangers. Especially for those who remained in the limelight, the centre of all attention revolved around that kind of community, the higher-ups in the chain of command. Hence, as they would always said they had a reputation to take care of. And their reputation was what had made them. They were their own dignity, they were what their title – the pride – gave them. And said dignity created layers over layers of boundaries to cover up what of their real characteristics actually were. A bunch of lies to feed off others, created for pleasures of the world.

These kind of people were mere mice, indeed.

However, not many were willing to break the borders to witness the truth inside every person. Supposedly, the true selves almost comes the most beautiful of all forms. It was a pity, actually, how many preferred the surface of the earth but didn't bother to dig up gold. Yes, the comparison seemed to be as similar.

Even the bravest, the strongest, the perfect angels we would saw in one could be that of many flaws – and one that was a coward in deep. Aren't we all humans? In the end, everything we saw in our lives were lies after all – the whitest lies we ever discovered – was within ourselves. The images were created. Well, humans lived to amuse others after all. And what was our reward? We got ourselves the fame but not many were actually, truly happy.

And they began to wonder. . . Thoughts lingered from one and another.

In the end, the one that we seek the most had brought us to the most despair. And to some, to most of these masked individuals we claimed gods and goddesses in mortal worlds would have been caught up with their own lies that they began to believe them themselves. They would forgot what they were really for; what was the truth in them. And that was the most sorrowful one would get.

Akashi Seijuurou was nothing more than that coward. He, who seek for power, was afraid to love. Because love was an odd feeling, because love gave you that fear – the scary thoughts and dreams and opinions, and that love was capable of changing one's opinions and perspectives. Love was what he could describe as outlandish. That bizarre thing thumping in your chest, and you knew it was caused by another person. And that love was powerful enough to make you sweat and yet you were just sitting or standing, no particular heavy activities or whatsoever.

And yet, when one loved another, the quirky strums of emotions either made you strong or weak. Strong enough to have that desire to protect, or weak enough to have your knees buckled and made you wanted to vomit.

Yeah, Akashi Seijuurou didn't know what he was feeling for now. It was of his cowardice, the love in his chest, once blooming was now fading to nothingness. Deep inside, he knew he was remorseful of it. It wasn't what his late mother had taught him supposedly. He wasn't supposed to be unfaithful.

And perhaps, that was why he created a particular image since he was afraid. He created an image of bravery, yet he feigned ignorance to the acrid sentiment that settled deep into the pit of his stomach. It took a lot of effort of creating layers of layers to put his ignorance to work. Now, he was nothing more but a cold-hearted person.

Why, indeed?

The excuses he'd been making to Tetsuya was indeed a cruel lie.

No, he never really needed an heir. He couldn't bother to have a child – well, perhaps if God made alpha omega verse a reality, he would want one. But that wasn't the exact reason, to be honest.

Why was he doing all of these kind of harrowing things, you'd wonder?

Well, that was just because he was power hungry. Yes, after all he did, Akashi Seijuurou became nothing more but a greedy man seeking for power.

Perhaps, it started when he had accepted his father's company – a massive one with its business spreading globally. At first, he was reluctant towards it, but after further trainings and a lot more experiences, Seijuurou found himself attracted toward the business world. Over the years, his interest turned to an addiction, his work became his drug. And that was the first and foremost; the cause of the effects, his relationship with Tetsuya started to fade.

Was it because he didn't want to bother the blunette, he wondered. The blunette was kind, of course, but kindness wasn't a necessary fundamental in the business scheme in his opinion. The red-haired businessman was just too busy. Too busy in the dimension involving social and money and lies, and all he desired for was to be on top of the food chain called hierarchy. With whatever conversations or moments they had, all of them started to decrease and decrease and decrease. As to what occurred now, his love had faded until it was no more but a request for a divorcement.

Or at least, that was what he thought.

Nevertheless, nothing changed much until now. Akashi Seijuurou, supposedly a powerful man now, was still a coward.

He ran away yesterday, not willing to even glimpse toward the worn out blunette. He should feel the least guilty, and he did. Still, the redhead refused to return to his own home just yet. He wasn't ready for any kind of emotions that would swarm him whole. And that doesn't mean he was going to reply to any of Yui's messages.

Right, Seijuurou was selfish.

For now, he wasn't the least bit caring of it.

* * *

According to the dominant gender in humanity, women are frightening beasts when they unleashed their emotions. Emotions were like weapons for them; lashing toward their target as if they would wage a third World War. Although emotions were the ones keeping them having strength, it was one of the reasons why it would drown another's as well. Targets ranging commonly from random men to best friends, of course.

Yamanaka Yui was no other different.

She had been seething since yesterday, constantly on look out – had I mentioned them capable of being detectives and spies as well? – toward the phone's screen. The young woman had sent twenty three missed calls and forty text messages but she still had not received any news from the Akashi heir himself.

Of course, yesterday she'd heard him mumble about Tetsuya. Yui wasn't an idiot in particular. She knew who was Tetsuya to begin with – Akashi Tetsuya, mind you – and she knew she was doing an affair.

But the feelings she held was sincere.

. . . It wasn't wrong if you want to love someone despite their status, right?

. . . The love she knew, the love she learnt and the love she experienced – they were most likely the same. As long as it has a pure intention, not like the intentions of bitches and sluts but from a true maiden herself; it was alright.

Yet, deep in her mind had her voices constantly mocking her as hypocrites. Her heart whispered to herself, _Yes, you are. You're like that daddy's girlfriend you hated when you were little._

"No, I'm not! This is – This is different! That slut only wanted my dad's dick and his money. . . and when he was bankrupt, she –"

"Yui-chan, are you okay?"

Dark eyes widened.

"R-R-R-Reo Mibuchi. . .?"

". . . Yeah, it's me. . ."

 _That's called karma._

"SHUUUUT UP!" said dark-haired woman hit her head on the café's table, causing the other man to squeak in surprise. "We – We'll talk later!"

"E-eh, but you said you were going to talk about Sei-chan –"

"Laaaaterr!"

And she ran off, not at all bothering to see about Mibuchi's whereabouts. She knew she was being rude, unladylike even, but what was she supposed to do if she was going to talk to herself?

 _I'm just depressed right now,_ she sobbed inwardly, _yeah. . . depressed. Stupid Seijuurou-kun for leaving me! Stupid, stupid, stupid voice in my head!_

Somewhere in the café, Reo Mibuchi was sipping tea with a confused and shocked face.

* * *

"Yui. . ."

"Seijuurou-kun, aargh! You stupid, idiotic, moronic bastard!"

Indeed, said red-haired man cringed when more foul words followed after for quite some time. He had settled himself comfortably in the office, having himself calmed down already. Alas, his girlfriend had forced himself to pick up her call, and now this.

"Calm down a little," he sighed, "What's wrong with you?"

A sob. There was a tiny sob coming from across the line. He inwardly flinched, guilt settled in once more. "You made me worry yesterday. . . We were supposed to go out but then you – I don't know what's your reason and suddenly you just left me alone. . . I- you know I'm scared to be left alone."

"I'm – I'm sorry. . . I can't leave Tetsuya yesterday. He was sick with a really bad fever."

There was a brief pause for a while, even the tiniest cries weren't able to be heard. For a moment, Seijuurou thought she might lash out again. But she didn't.

"Oh. . . Poor Tetsuya-kun. . . I guess it's my fault – I apologise. . ." her voice was tiny and hesitant. Seijuurou knew she might had been embarrassed after all.

"It's okay," he smiled. "You should take a rest now, you sound tired."

"I am, dobe," she giggled like a teenage high schooler, "Good night."

Their conversation ended. For once in the whole day, Seijuurou had felt his heart light as feathers. Yui was nothing more than forgiving when it comes to his spouse, and that was one trait he was actually drawn towards.

Alas, the demonic voice whispered in his head – mocking him till he felt like the lowest, horrible man on Earth. Seijuurou wondered if he was, right now.

And the voice had sent him to realisation.

How foolish could he be, no, how cruel? Indeed, just a few minutes ago, he was expressing his guilt when Yui had told him of her concerns. And what about Tetsuya whom he saw crying night till morning? What about him who had himself pleading with his heart's content? Nothing; Seijuurou did nothing! All he did was feigning ignorance, finding bliss in such actions.

It was mortifying how he gave something to others what he hasn't to Tetsuya.

Like crystals, briny tears rolled down his cheeks without him noticing. And when he did, he consumed more of the heavy feeling. Alone in the spacious office room, Seijuurou, supposedly a corporate holder and general manager, was nothing more but an ordinary, cowardly human.

* * *

It was late when he reached home, his visage showing fatigue and depression. Yet, he took a breather for a minute and opened the door slowly with his keys rattling to every jostling movement. The living room, just as he suspected even though disappointment inside him doubled, was utterly dark.

"I'm home. . ." he muttered to himself – or at least, he wished Tetsuya would hear it. It was when he had heard a sleepy mumble from the settee from afar. Quickly, the lights were flipped open and there, revealed a small figure. He flinched at first, and then he realised it was Tetsuya who had been waiting for him for hours, now snoozing languidly by the couch. The redhead felt aggrieved at first, he shuffled closer to the sleeping blunette. He heard the blunette muttered a few more words that didn't really make any sense.

Looking at Tetsuya as he was in now had made Seijuurou thought that he looked slightly a few years younger. It reminded him a few recollections back when they were in high school. Often, they stayed at each other's house – even when Tetsuya had to go to Kyoto, but he was willing to. Seijuurou felt himself missing the moments they had together. . . but of course, everything would end within another twenty five days.

He leaned closer to Tetsuya and landed a kiss on the forehead and stroked the baby blue tufts tenderly. The blunette groaned slightly, stirring to the side and he smiled dreamily. The upright curl, even if Tetsuya was still asleep, actually caused Seijuurou to smile as well. In a crouching state he was, the redhead continued to stroke his spouse's locks for a moment.

"Mmm. . . Se-Sei?"

". . . Hey," said Seijuurou, sheepishly.

"I got you some dinner," he smiled groggily, finding himself lulling back to slumber, "I made your favourite by the way." Maya blue eyes rolled, a second later he was snoring once more.

"Oh."

What more should he say?

Emotions ran wild in his heart. No, it was different from what he was feeling with Yui. With Yui he was calm, but when it came to Tetsuya it was like his heart was losing control. When he raced toward the kitchen with long, large strides he felt conflicted again. It was just. . . Tetsuya was just too kind. Supposedly, it was a flaw.

But this flaw was a beautiful one, he realised. One that brought him back to senses and yet made him lose control over his mind and body. One that created butterflies in the pit of his stomach. One that was unnerving and exciting.

He felt his legs dropped, and his vision lowered, sinking lower till his entire legs met the mosaic floors. The note in his hand was placed near his lap, the paper getting thinner and much transparent with his rivulets trickling down.

 _I'm sorry,_ the note said.

Why was he apologising? Tetsuya never really did any faults in their relationship. Tetsuya was nothing but an innocent being, kind and gentle and sweet being paired with a demon. He was that demon – a sick, unfaithful yet cowardly demon he was.

Love was indeed an odd feeling.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I'm. . . I'm gonna run away now. Hehehe. Oh, do take mind. I changed the plot to something MUCH SADDER HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm going to make Yui slightly comical since she had that childish trait.**

 **Kise : You demon! *cries***

 **READ ODIUM! It's out now! Please! *desperate plea***

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	7. Day Six (Thursday)

**Thou who rocks this baby! *screams hellishly idkwhatimsayinglol* :**

 **VanillaLithium**

 **Onmoraki**

 **otomezone**

 **Guest (mysterious guy named D *wink wonks*)**

 **Gly (you who reviewed twice! Thank you)**

 **Animaddict**

 **Guest 2**

 **Jay Dawn (Reviewing twice just to put lyrics! XD Y'don't know how much I love you for that)**

 **ryeonixg**

 **DarkFlameInfernal**

 **EsVendetta**

 **Hwang Reepetra**

 **visitor from ao3**

 **fan**

 **XienRue**

 **. . .**

 **Author-nim : And yes, I wrote another chapter because I'm hella excited!**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY SIX**

 **Thursday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _And yes, I'll admit, I am jealous. I'm jealous of every minute you spend with him, of every concerned expression you send his way, of every tear shed, of every glance, every touch, and every thought. I want to rip him to pieces and purge him from your mind and from your heart. But I can't."_

― _Colleen Houck_

* * *

They said that one was able to sustain himself being alone, but not many were willing to be lonely. Loneliness was a bitter feeling, an emotion that made a person felt crude and hollow. And a life was raw with no purpose when one had nobody, simply because we always had our goals and ways to impress others. Humans needed that interdependency after all.

Yet, for three years after Seijuurou had been keeping himself busy, Tetsuya on the other hand, accustomed himself with that loneliness. He had embraced that sort of silence that tarried the household for quite some time. And only when Satsuki and Sakura came, or his friends from Seirin High back then or Shigehiro would the house be filled with noise and sounds of heavy laughter or the occasional talks over lunch servings.

This Thursday's morning seemed odd though, no, how Tetsuya would describe it as unusually noisy. Yeah, it was too noisy with the perpetual footsteps thumping against the floorboards. He peeked toward the clock, toward the thin needles pointing at the sixth digits and he mumbled grumpily. Still not wanting to wake up, he groaned and curled his body deeper into the thick duvet, savouring the warmth. Unfortunately, it seemed like whoever made that particular noise didn't want him to have enough sleep just yet – until he'd heard a familiar childish and high-pitched voice.

"CHICHIUE~!"

 _Chichiue?!_ From inside the piles of sheets, Tetsuya blushed against that thought, eyes like sapphire gems shut close in embarrassment. Not yet, he couldn't come out just yet, he could feel his cheeks spreading the natural heat and turned the alabaster white into beet red, as scarlet as roses.

Right, Sakura had been calling him that name ever since she started to learn her words after all. At first, he was happy and all – proud even – but most of the times now, he was actually shy about it. Being a godparent and all, that was.

"Did _oji_ wakes up?" He heard the redhead spoke, who apparently just entered the sleeping room.

Little Sakura sounded a bit disappointed; the blunette imagined the adorable sulk she showed on her young face and how the cherub cheeks tainted pink as she shook her head in denial. "No, Tetsuya is hiding inside that big, big lump. _Chichiue_ is lazy today!"

He heard a chuckle coming from Seijuurou, one that the blunette hadn't been listening for quite a long time. His blush deepened. "Then Sakura-chan, what should your uncle has to do to wake Tetsuya up?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Tetsuya wondered what they were supposed to be planning. Worse, what was that cheeky five-year old child was thinking? From beneath, he heard the ebullient giggles of a little girl and she shouted happily; "I think – oh, oh! – I think _otou-san_ has to give _chichiue_ a kiss! Mommy says that heroes should kiss their princess to save them from the darkness of evil something!"

The redhead released a triumph yet sincere laugh. "You read too much comics, Sakura-chan. But I won't deny that was actually a good idea."

 _What. . .?!_ Tetsuya started fidgeting under the protection of his covers.

"Yeah! Yeah! _Otou-san_ should kiss _chichiue_ now!" Sakura was beaming excitedly. Surely, one day she would be a perfect matchmaker.

Nervously, Tetsuya felt the weight of the duvet – _Kami_ , his lovely precious duvet! – was lifted off from him. He creaked open one eye, revealing the bluest skies in his eyes meeting against the bloodiest of crimson shade and he squealed, partially and secretly in delight, but also the nerve wrecking emotion thumping to the rhythm of his heartbeat. The redhead hauled him up with his strong arms and tenderly he carried the light-weighted Tetsuya from the bed.

"Now kiss!"

"Right," the Akashi heir chuckled. But when his mismatched eyes met the baby blue gems, he felt the harrowing sensation and he was aggrieved by it. Tetsuya simpered, a presence of disappointment and hope and the bluest feelings buried deep in those eyes – that smile in particular – he held one hand close to the redhead's cheek and stroked gently. Seijuurou found his own lips curled into an awkward smile as well. Just, when was the last time had he smiled this honest? "Accept it as a part of a deal?"

"Of course."

"Kiss already!"

Impatiently – because five-year olds were simply naïve creatures and she wasn't really capable of reading airs from people – she knocked Seijuurou quite hard and he had Tetsuya landed on the bed as well. Except, this time he followed put, landing on top of Tetsuya. Both arms locking the blunette in prison, it was a wrong position to display toward a mere child like Sakura. If her mother found out, the two of them would have to share a grave later on. Maternal instincts, as women called it.

So, Seijuurou was only able to display a simple gesture of affection – if affection was what he could called the deal, then so be it – on which he placed a lingering kiss both on the blunette's cheeks and he rose as quick as he landed previously. The sensation was cool and tingling, enough to send shivers down their spines.

"Now that our princess had woken up, let's urge him to cook us breakfast."

"Yeah, breakfast with _chichiue_!"

"Alright, alright – wait a minute." The blunette couldn't help smiling toward the two vivacious beings. Yet, he pushed their backs to the door and once they were out, he shut the door with a heavy sigh. The occasional chaos was alright for him, a joie de vivre to lighten his mood even, if not for the headache he sure would receive later. Despite that, he mused the thought with a bright smile as he changed his night garments into his everyday jumper and faded jeans. Today was indeed an enigma, warm and sunny even in such a dark-lit penthouse.

There was a knock coming from the door he locked previously, and a concerned voice coming from his spouse, "Are you done?"

"Coming," he opened the door, fingers smoothing over the baby blue tufts, putting his very effort on taming his bed hair. Seijuurou laughed a bit, he took the blunette by surprise as he took charge on fixing the messy ball of hair.

"You sure took a long time just for this?"

"Not really," Tetsuya sulked.

"Come," he beckoned, "Sakura's waiting impatiently."

"Alright, alright. Just another few seconds, please."

Even if he said so, the blunette stopped on tracks just to glance toward the redhead. Seijuurou had a fine built over the years, and shoulders that carried a lot of burdens and responsibilities. He gazed toward the lean back, toward the fine muscles and pale skin. It had been a long time since he saw Seijuurou's back. Over the years, he had been side by side with the redhead, no longer chasing after the path winding down to their very fate. Yet, the feeling wasn't bad after all. Just waves after waves of nostalgia flooding over his mind. And there were questions running in his mind, wondering what kind of miracles were happening today.

Had the angels heard his prayers?

Tetsuya shook away such trivial thoughts. With a smile etched on the soft lips, he raced downstairs to meet the two precious people in the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Sakura-chan?"

"I want pancakes!" she exclaimed, "Ah, but _otou-san_ wants _tama_. . . _tama_. . . what is it called again?"

"It's omelette, Sakura," responded the redhead, amused.

" _Tamago_ , or something like that. . ." she found it hard to say omelette in Japanese. Sakura found herself pouting as she reached for a fork.

"It's _ta-ma-go-ya-ki_ , Sakura-chan," giggled the blunette, " _Tamago_ means egg. Ah, you're not supposed to stir the batter with fork!"

The redhead had made himself a coffee, one for Tetsuya as well, and he leaned against the counter whilst watching the banter occurred amongst them. It was amusing, to say the least. To be honest, he missed the warm kind of feeling that bloomed like a morning glory for today.

How long had he not been in such a carefree environment? How long had he been skipping the morning routine like this and went straight to the distressful place he was supposed to dread? Three years, in exact – a voice had whispered. For once, he glanced at the fluids, the steam kissing his face, and a woeful expression he was showing.

That was, until Tetsuya disrupted his stressful muses.

"You're helping or not?" Seijuurou was attacked, albeit languidly, with an eggbeater.

"It's fun to watch," he openly voiced out his thoughts, smiling.

"Hm! Go beat the eggs now!"

"What? No, I'm the husband here."

"Well, I'm a husband too."

"No, you're supposed to be the wife."

"Just because I stayed home and cook dinner? Seijuurou-kun is stereotyping the submissive partners now. How cruel," he said a tad monotonously. "Sakura-chan, don't follow your _otou-san's_ footsteps on becoming a judgmental person."

"Eehhh. . ." The little girl could only giggle despite the lack of understanding on such statement.

"Hey, you don't have to teach her that!" The redhead had his cheeks coloured, "Sakura-chan, don't listen to _chichiue_ as well."

"No, listen to me. I'm the submissive one in this relationship so I'm the mother, right Sakura-chan?" He winked playfully and glanced back with those azure pools full with victory and glory.

Tetsuya's eyes were those that showed mockery despite the emotionless base. The Akashi heir knew it was all fun and games yet he felt the need to win over this sort of argument.

"Daughters should listen to their fathers, you know."

"No –"

" _Chichiue~ Otou-san~_ breakfast!" And there went the little girl starting to throw her tantrum because, damn, she was hungry as hell.

Nobody won after all. In the end, they had to comfort a wailing pink-haired child and endure the continual mumbles of _tamago_ and _tamagoyaki_ with wrong pronunciation and all. It doesn't really matter though, for now Tetsuya was being rather happy. The questions in his head could be settled down later. The only important thing mattered was as he gazed upon the calm look dawned upon the redhead, it was all like they used to be a few years ago.

They used to be young and foolish and madly in love.

* * *

Meanwhile, a certain woman was having a rather bad start for the day. She always had the bad luck Thursday in her life, this one was not any better. Her hair dryer was broken, that had made the sable tresses tousled and hellish in style with the short sprouts of newly-grown hair kept on poking about her face. One of her contact lenses was flushed into the toilet and she had to endure wearing thick-rimmed glasses – glasses! How long had she not wore glasses? Since middle school, she guessed. Inwardly, she loathed of her nerdy appearances just as similar as she was back in middle school. At least, she doesn't have braces on. And a man had knocked over her chair when she had her morning coffee in L'occitane, spilling the dark brown fluids of her morning tea onto her floral shirt.

Seriously, she wanted to cry now. But that wasn't what she had been taught in her life – she was taught not to cry over frivolous matters like her misfortunes before. Thursday was her worst fortune yet to come – so what? The woman huffed confidently. She had done her jet black locks looked fine with a chignon and she wore glasses with pride today in spite of the difference of her appearances and had scrubbed a slight of the stains off before they would be difficult to remove on later. Thursday was the day she knew she had to double her diligence, and Yui found herself proud with such small achievements briefly.

That was until she saw a certain blunette.

Yamanaka Yui was never a fool. The black-haired woman knew who the blunette was, seen him in pictures and photographs hanging meticulously in the Akashi main office for its one and only CEO of the company. She knew of the person who carried the Akashi bloodline through marriage; and she knew the said person was right in front of him.

Akashi Tetsuya was nothing but weak, according to her muses. And Seijuurou had told her a couple of times, about Tetsuya, that he had always been that type you could easily stepped on since the primitive years. Even so, she saw the blue in his eyes were sharp as icicles as his gaze landed on her. Oh damn, how long had she been staring?

"Are you alright, miss?"

Right, Tetsuya may have known her name but he was unaware of her looks. She counted that as a luck for today, perhaps a reward for her patience. The small curves of his jaws, the short height for a man and all the body contours – Tetsuya was one with many flaws, but even Yui could find reasons behind the flaws to fall in love with him. Now she could understand how their childish relationship could turn into something serious. Tetsuya was someone worth fighting for.

What was this feeling? The occasional squeeze in her chest that had been going on for a couple of minutes now – was it. . . envy?

No, not quite yet.

"Ah, I'm. . . okay. Sorry for staring," she blushed.

"It's okay," Tetsuya smiled. "You don't look like you come from this neighbourhood, do you?"

"Not really. I'm just a visitor here. . ."

"That's nice. It must be a stress-relief to be able to take a break in your life for a while," he huffed. "Shall we take a seat over there?"

The short male pointed toward the nearest bench. Of course, they were walking uphill – and for Tetsuya who was carrying tons of grocery bags – it was actually tiring. Even Yui was panting slightly and she felt relief flooding to her legs as she sat down. She peered over to the side, stolen espies at the blunette. At first, she was a tad startled watching his monotonous face changed to a bright expression. She looked toward the direction he was gazing at and was in awe herself. The panorama of the city was what he would gaze upon every day, watching the city basked with morning sunlight. From the top, the other civilians looked like ants busy working for their queen, bustling about and anywhere.

Her lips parted, she wanted to remark about something. But she saw the focused look, cerulean blue eyes taking every details of the picturesque scene. She stayed silence and followed the lead as well.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah. . ." she simpered shyly.

Then, Tetsuya resolved back to being quiet. Yui took that as the chance for a slight interview. A few questions couldn't go wrong, right?

"Are you stressed?" Her voice was so small, it was almost inaudible. She pretended innocence, although there was guilt presence beneath her petty lies and the scheme she made was of pure intention after all. Yui was curious.

"Hm? What made you say so?"

"You said something about taking a break just then," a pause, "I just thought that you might be having some distress lately."

"Ah. . ." Tetsuya trailed off, his visages dreamy and eyes wandered away even if they looked like they might be focusing on the scene again. "I just have problems with my husband?" That was quick, of course. Yui never thought the blunette was quick to trust strangers. Especially a woman like her, she nibbled on her lip nervously.

"H-Husband?" she pretended once again.

It was not that obvious, but he was nodding. "Yeah, he wanted to divorce me for another girl."

Yui gulped. Double the nervous wrecked her brain system and she fidgeted. "S-So. . . what happened next?"

"We sort of have an argument," he responded as slow as a snail, "But I guess we're trying. I'm trying to do the best for the remnants of the days we have. We might not be able to fix what was broken. . ." he sniffled a bit, "It's like, you know, I could only pick up the pieces left and make something new out of it. Like a glass that was broken, you couldn't really shape it to something that will look the same as the original. But you shape it into something knew, sometimes. . . something better."

With every words spoken, Tetsuya found his lips curling into a smile – one that held so many memories and meanings. The twin pools of maya blue, one that represent the vast blanket of sky, closed shut as to reflect upon his wonders and he almost looked like a doll, perfectly still.

Yui exhaled a puff of air, squinting her eyes as she dared herself asking the dreaded question, "If he would be with the girl. . . would you want to forget?"

A brief moment of silence ticked away. For a while, Yui thought he might be angry. But the blunette only sighed a long puff.

"I'd wish. But. . . I won't. I don't want to. There are unpleasant things I wanted to remember. Because this is a lesson for me, for the two of us. They are lessons ought to be learnt, and remembered always. And forgetting it just means you never learn anything from your mistakes. . . So, I guess it's best if I treasure everything even if they're bad."

"I. . . I see."

Something about Tetsuya made the younger woman gulped in remorse, bright azure hue in the pair of forlorn-looking pools held many secrets and stories yet to be told. She chose to remain silent afterwards, engulfing in the late morning's rays.

Right, the black feeling deep inside. . . making knots in her stomach. . . she knew it wasn't envy. Deep inside, a voice told her she couldn't compete with Akashi Tetsuya. Sure, the man had many flaws. But a person with flaws always comes with the greatest strength. She was feeling jealous, all right.

Jealousy.

Yeah, that made sense.

* * *

Unexpectedly – or was it really unexpected? – a certain Akashi returned home quite early than usual today. The blunette, instead of feeling surprised, was quite pleased to see the redhead at the doorstep in the early night. He said nothing, though, but was watching with full focus obvious in his eyes. The blunette kept on pretending to watch a soap opera in the telly.

"I'm back," he inaudibly mumbled.

"I've got dinner. Do you want some?"

There was actually a hint of derision overlaying such invitation. As always for tonight, for the not-so-happy household they were living in, Tetsuya forecasted a sort of rejection coming from the redhead. He was surprised to hear the otherwise. That managed to distract him from the television for a minute and half.

"I. . . I thought. . ."

"Well, I didn't get the chance to eat anything," Seijuurou responded smoothly, "Care to serve your husband?"

Oh dear, that smile. . . So much rarity happened today, which made the blunette wondered about his countless, unanswered questions.

The shorter lad threw a frown, "Well, you should've told me earlier. I just heated up the leftovers today."

"It's fine." He winked – the blunette snorted instead.

"That's rare for you to say that."

Seijuurou only shrugged.

Dinner conversations were nothing but the occasional requests of passing food and the small queries about work. Tetsuya really dreaded to ask, the wanders had set his mood from curious to plainly disturbed. It was when the redhead was about to head upstairs for a long soak that he finally get to spurt out the blackness in his heart.

"I guess, I just wanted to. . ."

"Was it because Sakura-chan was there?" After all, Sakura was always the carrier of luck in this residence.

Yet, Akashi Seijuurou snorted at that thought and his heterochromia eyes rolled into a spite of contempt. "Of course not."

"B-But I just can't believe it. . . You're doing it on purpose–"

"Tetsuya. . ."

"No, Sei-kun! I need a reason. . ."

"Why do you even need one?"

"Because – because –"

 _Because I'm scared. I'm scared that you'd leave me after everything that we'd have together. I'm scared because I'm always a step behind._

And Tetsuya was afraid, that despite the calmness he always showed, he was on the verge of breaking – on the verge of spilling briny tears – on the very verge of screaming. But he remained composed yet trembling.

"Tetsuya –" Seijuurou took the lead. He grabbed his spouse by the wrist and send gentle touches against the surface.

It happened so briefly, so quick – that in a flash of lightning – he felt that warmth on his right cheek once again. One that was akin to that chaste peck in the morning. Tetsuya found his eyes widened, a pair of flat-shaped gems showing surprise and a whiff of ebullience lit his face like fireworks.

"You know, Tetsuya. . ." he stroked the smoothness of the pale skin, cool fingers against warm skin, "Let's just savour the remaining days of the deal."

And he left the trembling blunette, conflicted and afraid still.

He had forgot about the letter, forsaken yet safe and sealed in envelope.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **TRIVIA**

 **I wonder why Sakura always call Tetsuya and Seijuurou** _ **chichiue**_ **and** _ **otou-san**_ **? I did mention that they had taken care of her since she's a toddler. Basically, they are her godparents. So, they don't really mind when she called them that. Even Momoi approve of it. Except sometimes, she calls them by their names and Seijuurou's trying to make her call them** _ **oji**_ **which means uncle according to Google translate.**

 **Momoi's ex-husband is. . . *drum rolls*. . . Aomine. Shall I put a back story? I don't know. Momoi saw Aomine as a bad father. They don't really divorce, they just don't live together anymore.**

 **Mozu : You know I'm so bored I started to draw countless of random shit in every piece of paper I could find. My friends and I was thinking of posting comics in Webtoon, but someone's not ready to draw *waggle eyebrows* Anyway, I could write this longer. But I got attracted to the movies in Fox, so I'm cutting it short.**

 **BTW, I found inspiration on watching Panic! At the Disco's new music video. Never knew Satan could smile so sensually. Lel.**

 **X for love, O for hate. I forgot to say this the last chapter. Whaaaat~~~**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	8. Day Seven (Friday)

**CREDITS YAY:**

 **Onmoraki**

 **Takucchi**

 **Guest 1**

 **zoedapoey**

 **Parapo**

 **AyakiStory**

 **xxEnnelAikuMeikaxx**

 **Animaddict**

 **Gly**

 **ryeonixg**

 **Guest 2**

 **Axille Vyon Raize**

 **XienRue**

 **TheLunaGoddess**

 **SSailorSScoutSS**

 **Visitor from ao3**

 **Seventyone Square**

 **Author-nim : I think this is an extra of explaining Momoi's and Aomine's lives! AkaKuro make less appearance here. The others make a cameo only.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY SEVEN**

 **Friday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _Lots of things can be fixed. Things can be fixed. But many times, relationships between people cannot be fixed, because they should not be fixed. You're aboard a ship setting sail, and the other person has joined the inland circus, or is boarding a different ship, and you just can't be with each other anymore. Because you shouldn't be."_

― _C. JoyBell C._

* * *

Fridays should always be the days of mirth. A day before for weekend to greet by for most to enjoy and laze around. A day without work and depression and fucked up colleagues and workers. However, a particular blunette was found disturbed by the perdurable calls coming from two different people. He groaned and shifted, annoyed by the non-stop birdy-song ringtone Sakura had set for him, and responded despite the disturbance. His eyes shifted to the other side; Seijuurou was awoke a long time ago since the blank sheet was cool.

"Tetchan. . .?"

"Yes, Momoi. . ."

"Can you come to Maji Burger now?"

Certainly there was a matter needed to be discussed seriously if the pink-haired mother of a little girl was asking him for a rendezvous. It was still a foreign feeling for him. Of course, he knew it would be none other than about her husband.

After a quick cleanse toward his body – and dressed himself with a thick coat, it was going to rain today – he languidly sauntered downstairs only to found a familiar redhead by the coffee maker. Surprised, he stopped midway throughout the staircase.

"Thought you left for work already – wait, aren't you late now?!"

"I only have an appointment with the general manager of Y Holdings around the afternoon," Seijuurou shrugged, proceeding for the jar containing sugar, "So, I'm free till two something. How about you?"

The redhead gave him an odd look, full with disputes, pathetically.

"I'm going to meet Momoi for a while. Seems like she's having problems with you know who."

"Is it about Daiki again?"

"I don't know," Tetsuya chuckled, "Aomine-kun is always busy after all."

"It was his decision to enter military after all," the redhead mused out his opinion, as he bit back the urge to shudder from the bitter taste of the coffee. Seijuurou proceeded to add more sugar, scooping a small pelt of silvery-white crystals.

The blunette snorted upon his husband's response; "Like you're one to talk."

Seijuurou choked, fortunately not with brewed bitterness in his mouth, his chest caught onto heavy breathings. "H-Hey, at least I'm not returning home after a year of absence!"

"But you're still busy that you won't return home for twenty-seven hours." Tetsuya smiled teasingly as he went to the shoe rack and pursued on taking the boots today. The eyes, a boundless swirl of ocean, shifted slightly to meet the mortified glance that of Seijuurou and he huffed softly;

"Sei-kun. . . I'm not angry at you."

He closed the door, gazing immensely toward the guilt-ridden redhead as the surface slowly shut between them.

* * *

As he expected, it wasn't a typical rendezvous meant for two people – there was Aomine Daiki as well. Unexpectedly dressed in casuals than the military uniform Tetsuya got the chance to see often, the blunette was awed that he was growing into a fine man day by day. He looked upon himself, one that played the role of a submissive, as a wife; Tetsuya was always described as petite. Even the pink-haired woman had her own curves and contours that of a voluptuous figure.

The two of them seemed to be in a sort of heated conversation. Tetsuya couldn't see Satsuki's expression of course, but the way the tanned man had scrunched eyebrows and creases on the forehead indicating that he – or both of them – wasn't really in good terms right now. He visited the counter first, obtaining his all-eternity favourite milkshake before trudging towards the table they were seated.

"Tetsu?" Aomine looked astonished, "Wait, you called him here?"

The woman retorted back, "I have to!"

"What for?!"

And they continued to bicker, leaving the blunette to cope up with the tension with only a milkshake as his ever-so lovely companion to ease the awkwardness.

"Guys, I think you have to calm down first. . ." The blunette was, he had to admit, embarrassed toward the strange glances others – even the workers – throwing toward them. They were lucky they weren't kicked out from the fast food restaurant yet. "I won't know what's happening between you two until you explained to me."

Satsuki was the one to respond first. She sighed deeply, throwing a final but sharp glance at her husband and vocalised; "He's going away for another two years."

"It was for –"

"And," she pressed, hushing the tanned man, "It leaves a bad impression to Sakura, you know, because she rarely gets to see her father around. I don't think she even feels like he's the father here. So I was thinking of. . . thinking of. . ."

Being one with problems himself, Tetsuya gulped a lump of air. Already feeling the thick, tense air clouding above them he knew that it wasn't good news at all. Tetsuya assumed for the worse. "Divorcement?"

They gaped – the pink-haired woman gasped instead to display her surprise – and threw a look at Tetsuya as if he was a foreigner with obvious idiosyncrasies.

"Of course not!"

"Then, what it is?" He tilted his head, confused. These two were always the oddballs, really.

Daiki swallowed, "What we're – I'm trying to say is that, we'll still stick through the marriage but we're just thinking of living in different houses now – fuck, Tetsuya. . . Didn't you hear that we don't want to leave a bad impression for our child?"

"No, I said that you were the one leaving a bad impression!"

"Well, it means the same anyway."

"No, it doesn't! Dai-chan, you idiot! I can't even imagine how you end up in an army."

"Excuse me –"

"Alright, alright. . ." Again, the blunette became the middle man stopping their everlasting arguments, "Will it be alright for you guys?"

They shared brief glances, multiple shades of cerise like cherries against the colours of the deepest ocean, and at last they nodded reluctantly.

"We. . . Actually, we don't really have feelings for each other anymore," Satsuki simpered slightly, her face lowered to mask the mortify she was feeling – and meanwhile Daiki was shifting nervous glances – "But we don't want to break our marriage as well because Sacchan needs us."

She looked at the taller man, a secret agreement happening between them two. They always had that kind of stolen glances with each other, secret signals and all of those childhood bullshit – but that was what maintain their bond even if it wasn't supposed to be love anymore.

The woman disrupted the silence, her fingers brushing against the fresh cut of dusty pink cascades. "Besides," she started giggling, "I realised that Dai-chan was starting to get close to Kise. There might be chemistry happening between those two!"

"Wha –" The tanned man finally blushed a deep shade of crimson, "What are you talking about?"

"It's obvious! I mean, you kind of always invited him for dinner anyway."

"Th-That's because he's my partner!"

"Haa? Haa?" taunted the woman, shone in light of victory, "Your what?"

Reluctant, the tanned man chose to disregard his wife for a while. Still blushing, he lowered his gaze and avoid the curious ones emitted from none other than Tetsuya himself. Somehow, the blunette was grinning triumphantly, as if he would now that this situation was going to happen any sooner.

Everybody assumed that one day this would happen after all. Long ago, they loved each other like how any other newly-weds would. But unfortunately, the tanned man was chosen to work for the military – and working in a militia was never a pleasantry, especially when one was sent to a place three thousand miles away from home. It was somehow difficult to explain this kind of situation; their relationship wasn't a broken one. They never did lost hope toward each other. It was just that when one stayed too long in a farther distance, the feelings started to fade without any particular reason. Perhaps, those feelings were like a disintegration between tangled knots of a ball of yarn. Once the thick strings were unattached from the ball itself, they would never be able to reconnect once again. And it was as simple as that.

Apparently, both Satsuki and Daiki couldn't find any reasons for their matter. That feeling was like when you wake up one day and the only thing you feel was hollowness – there wasn't any giddiness, there wasn't any excitement. . . Everything crumbles into dust but they weren't really broken. So, both of them, tongue-tied and confused, was waiting a response from the blunette – his opinions mattered, somehow.

"It shouldn't be a problem right?" Tetsuya felt nothing but pure confusion all over, "I mean, nobody was at fault. We can't force ourselves to love."

 _Because love works in a strange way. And one day, you may expect your life to crumble into dust because of love – because the love you longed to cherish forever is lost and all you can feel is numb_ – the blunette, nauseous as spirits took him back to the memory lane.

Again, they shared that sort of secret signal glimpse – a discussion occurring between an odd telepathic method.

"I guess so. . ."

Funny, the air seemed to be lighter than usual after that.

* * *

Tetsuya would never thought that there was a day on which he would escape the tedious humdrum in his life. It was a just a night. A night brimmed with shot glasses and bourbon glasses full of the stout and brandy and whiskey, and the room filled with endless, jocular chatters coming from his old team mates. He looked toward the other blunette sliding an arm over to Ryouta's shoulder – much to his very irritation – and yet he giggled and laughed and mocked toward Ryouta and Taiga, high with alcohol. Satsuki was rather fine with it, still with her own ebullience, and talking with the other members, mainly with Aida Riko and fellow ex-Seirin students; and a certain purple-haired giant on the background, munching food. Only a certain green-haired was unavailable for the night, saying that he had some emergency shifts in the main hospital which was indeed a true excuse – not just some of his typical dishonest behaviour.

There was only a person left for arrival and he was taking indeed a long time.

"Oi Tetsu, where's Akashi?"

"He said he'd be late. The traffic was bad just now, he's probably reaching here late."

And yet, when he spoke those words, the words sounded crestfallen and acrid in his mouth but he spoke none of it. Instead, the shortest male amongst the crowd poured more from the glass bottle and chugged down the contents as fast as he could.

He felt a tap on the shoulder. Tetsuya looked up slowly to meet a pair of concerned pools of cerise. "Tetchan, is there something going on between you and Akashi?"

"N-No. . . Why'd you say that?"

"It's," her lips parted as if she'd deliver a three-paged script, "It's because. . . you look rather down, really."

Tetsuya gave her an assuring smile. "No, Momoi-san. I'm alright."

"You can talk to me if you want to."

He shook his head, the only thing convincing his friend was his assuring smile.

To be honest, his patience was wearing thin. Tetsuya proceeded to wait for a few minutes more. He drank more of the bubbly sip, heard more of the conversations – which consisted of nonsensical mumbles and jitters – from the bunch of drunkards. It was only when his mobile buzzed with a short-term text tone, that he jumped slightly from his seat and instantly looked up to the screen.

 _I can't make it to the bar_ , the other Akashi had spoken.

Furious, he responded the text with his fingers tapping on the dim-lit screen with a harder pressure than before. Seijuurou said he promised a while ago. . . Why the sudden change?

And today was supposed to be happier, for him – for both of them. They were supposed to forget about the deal and just lose themselves to liquor and all the façades in the world, not depressed. Not fighting against each other, defending their own rights.

 _Come home now._

 _Why should I?_

 _Sakura-chan is here. Satsuki let her stay for the night._

 _Fine._

After a while, Tetsuya managed to excuse himself from the rest and rose himself from his position. A few others didn't really pay attention, but then Taiga yelled something loud but incoherent and the petite male repeated himself once more as he took an unopened bottle of bourbon whiskey for later.

He expected the redhead would bring whoever the girl was to their home but it was seemingly impossible since Sakura was there. He thought about it for a long time, sulking inside the speeding taxi. He assumed an argument was going to occur later on even though a child was present. The blunette hoped that whatever bickers they had wouldn't be as bad after all.

Well, Tetsuya could've never been wrong.

Just as he slipped inside, shrugged off his coat and closed the surface behind him, he sniffed a whiff of roasted meat and custard cream and strong aroma of strawberries and chocolate. Curious as a cat would be, the blunette didn't realise he was shuffling toward the kitchen meant that he was basically following his instincts. Tetsuya gasped inwardly. Better yet, the briny tears were yet to come. The sight followed was beautiful, topped with his two favourite persons in the world. There was Seijuurou alright, greeting him with a sheepish smile as he brought up Sakura's frail arms to a playful wave, to and fro. Whilst the little girl had her grey-blue eyes glistened instantly, like polished jewels. The scene of dinner platter was like was almost akin to a lavish banquet, a feast of kingly proportions revealed beneath the plastic covers. Served on the table, although matched along plain décor seemed to be like roasted ham, its flesh a perfect golden brown, outfitted with salad and lemon and fresh dills; an avalanche of strawberries and fondue for desserts.

Tetsuya gulped involuntarily, both touched and confused at the same time. On the contrary, he placed his hands akimbo and clicked his tongue. "Did you went to work or the market stores?"

"Both," the redhead shrugged, a smile intact, "I went to fetch Sakura first because Satsuki was busy with her problems, right?"

"Yeah, and I told _otou-san_ that we should make a surprise for _chichiue_!"

Well, that indeed was the loveliest thing he ever experienced since such a long time. Tetsuya inhaled deeply, lips quivering to match the smiles displayed in such a perfect scene. He almost leap to embrace them whole, Sakura gasping within his arms and the redhead sheepishly attempted to stroke the baby blue tufts. And then, they realised he was crying.

" _Kami_ , is something wrong _chichiue_?!"

"N-No. . . It's – It's. . . It's perfect, and I'm so happy," he sniffled back the tears. "But how do we finish the whole thing?"

It went silent for a moment.

"Should we call the others?"

"Yeah. . ."

Thus, they continued the simple drinking party in the Akashi's residence. The others had their arrival a few minutes later, bringing more bottles of brandy and whiskey and Japanese _sake_ to match up the feast they had. For once, the house was noisier than ever, conversations and music and laughter echoing through the hallways.

Exhausted from the dose of joie de vivre, he decided to sit on the staircase, leaning against the railing as eyes the colours of azure skies watched everything from above. Just like last time, at the very least, this memory of his would forever last in his mind. The blunette, of course, always liked to cherish moments even if he was not fully involved. He loved it, being a wallflower, observing like a film camera capturing every moments and stored in his memory files.

The blunette looked upon the letter within his grasp, crestfallen had bellowed upon his once gleaming eyes. The humdrum returned, and he sighed heavily as his fingers reached the top of the thin material, about to rip it into half. He stopped before he even could. Inside his pocket, his phone was ringing, not from a call but a reminder. And the screen flashed the name and the due he despised – well it was more of a less preferable time – the most.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"A-ah, Sei. . ."

"What's wrong. . .?" the redhead quirked his eyebrows. Certainly, something wasn't right. "Something's bothering you."

"It's nothing," hummed the latter.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

They talked nothing afterwards and both knew it held a rather awkward surrounding around them. The taller lad was only able to pass down a bourbon glass, ordering the other to chug down the remnants of the contains.

"Hey, Sei?"

"Hm?"

"If you'd leave me next month – and for the rest of the years – would you want to forget about me?" He certainly was wearing a forlorn tone. Deep inside, the Akashi heir knew there was indeed something that had bothered his thoughts lately.

So, he tried to give a good response instead. "Of course not, I'll be thankful that I get to meet you."

It was such a short response, plain even. Yet, the blunette was caught laughing – a sincere, bubbly tone that once made the redhead fallen head over heels toward him – and Seijuurou was caught mesmerised.

"Me too," he said almost inaudibly.

As if there were any magnets pulling them closer, their faces went from a far distance to mere inches. Eyes meeting eyes, a pair of azure gems tenderly gazed against mismatched ones. Forehead to forehead, the unpretentious warmth flooded out to their flushed skin. Lips against lips, the blunette caught himself gasping and they deepened the intimate action for a long time, coaxing and pulling and tugging.

It was when they pulled away, the redhead was shocked enough to find the blunette crying.

"I'd remember you too."

He spoke nothing of it afterwards.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Stomach ache is the worst! GAH! I should've been updating during Deepavali holidays but I was busy doing art. Besides, I spent my time mostly playing UNO games with my friends and photoshopping. *Squee***

 **I'm sorry I haven't update for a while. To be honest, I was stuck writing this chapter unable to explain a few stuffs. To be honest, I'm still not satisfied with it. Anyway, you guys always suspect that I will be fully following that prompt. *laughs* Maybe I am. . .**

 **Anyway, follow me on Instagram ; mie_rawr**

 **X for love, O for hate and XXXXXXX if you want this to update fast!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	9. Day Eight (Saturday)

**Beautiful reviewers :**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Animaddict**

 **MaiaLovesOreos**

 **fanaticz**

 **XienRue**

 **Short note : Week One over! Three more weeks! There'll be a slight angst in this chapter. What I mean by slight, is actually the beginning. Bahaha!**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY EIGHT**

 **Saturday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _So you're always honest," I said._

 _"Aren't you?"_

 _"No," I told him. "I'm not."_

 _"Well, that's good to know, I guess."_

 _"I'm not saying I'm a liar," I told him. He raised his eyebrows. "That's not how I meant it, anyways."_

 _"How'd you mean it, then?"_

 _"I just...I don't always say what I feel."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said._

 _"Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though."_

― _Sarah Dessen, Just Listen_

* * *

Love is all about time.

You need time to fall in love. You also need time to let the love fades, the paradigmatic theatre show playing a heartbreak cut scene. You need time to think whether to accept a person's proposal. You need time to get to know of the other person before you get to do a decision, to observe the strengths and flaws and attractions that may convince your very own heart and listen as your inner voices tell you that whoever the person is, whether he or she is the right person.

When one spent time longer with her or his beloved, they get a sparse chance to see the small details in the said person. They get to observe, to evaluate – and perhaps, to savour. They get to know the bad habits, the eccentricities, the fears, the sweet things they risked to do specially for their loved ones. And when time decided to linger, they would see that even the small movements, the flinches and shivers and quirks meant something deeper than just a shift of the body. That every flickers of the gaze was written of different definition, another different feelings.

Apparently, Akashi Seijuurou was becoming much more curious than before. He was curious toward every movement of his spouse, his supposed lover. For example, that nervous glances Tetsuya throwing toward him when he thought the redhead was too busy scouring through business papers, not shifting his own stolen peeps as well. The feeling was like as if there was something the blunette wanted to tell him. Some sort of an uncalled message. But whenever Seijuurou questioned him, the blunette was tongue-tied, a tad alarmed, and shook his head as a firm rejection.

Curiosity killed the cat after all, but there was a continuation for that saying after all – but satisfaction brought it back. And yes, satisfaction was what he needed right now; to ease the dire need to know of the secret language that even he couldn't find the nuances. Since a few days, he was figuring out a few questions running in his mind. That was why he seemed to be carrying out a plan; listing out details of Tetsuya's favourites and likes, objects useful for bribery of some sort. Just to work out for some answers.

 _It's not wrong_ , he clicked his tongue, _I only wanted to know what's in his mind. That's all._

Seijuurou woke up very early despite the very day a start of the weekend. He peered to the side, watching as the blunette had his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. He stirred a bit, moaned something as he changed his sleeping position and turned to face the latter. His bed hair was, as commonly seen, came in a disarranged cascades. Spontaneously, the redhead fondled over the short mane in several shades of blue, slender fingers caressed the strands one by one. Sunshine had not yet descended into the panes yet, through translucent curtains, and so Seijuurou proceeded to just lie down like he was having a lazy Saturday.

Tetsuya stirred once more. As if something shocking occurring in his dreams, he cracked an eye open – this time sincerely taken aback to see the redhead staring toward him in his slumber.

"Good morning," whispered the redhead like they were being chased down by some criminals. He smiled sheepishly, "Go back to sleep. It's still early."

"Nnngh. . ." the latter groaned, "Then, why are you awake then?"

"I just woke up too."

"Mm, really? What about Sakura?" Tetsuya stretched his arms.

"Still asleep, I guess."

"I see. . ."

The blunette snoozed off a moment later, passed out as quickly as he opened his eyes previously. And so, Seijuurou watched him again; every movements, every shudders, every stretches. By allowing his mind to take over, the questions instantly popped in his head once more. Again and again, asking the same things without boredom.

A few days ago, he dared himself asking; what was the purpose of the deal? What was the blunette planning despite all the troubles he had to go through? He flashed back the image before the first part of their deal. Woebegone as he could be, those pair of bright sapphire seemed to hold back words. More than a desperate plea to not follow along the divorcement plan. And words became secrets, secrets became something that would be forgotten later on. He wanted to avoid the last part the most.

The red-haired man finally pulled himself off the quilt after an hour. He yawned, noticing that he was actually still lethargic but dragged himself to the other bedroom – supposedly a guest room – to check on the five-year old girl. True enough, she was still nestled between covers, hugging a Raggedy-Ann doll half her body size. Smiling fondly, he went back to his own room for a quick change of his clothes.

Tetsuya was arranging the bed as he slipped inside, smoothing the quilt and placing pillows back to the correct positions. It was then, the Akashi heir seemed to notice the brief glance from the shorter male and it passed down quickly as he lowered his gaze. Swallowing, his lips parted as he dared the questions to spill out but Tetsuya cut his words, his own spilt faster;

"S-Sakura's still asleep?"

"Yeah. . ."

"I see."

"Tetsuya."

"Hm?"

 _Alright. This is it._

"You sure you don't have anything to tell me, don't you?"

Said Tetsuya could only gulped as he further avoided his husband's sharp stare. The blunette knew what kind of stare it was; that desire to know every single details and nothing amiss from his control, and Tetsuya knew it was something he couldn't escape if he'd pry further. "Of course not," retorted Tetsuya back.

"Okay then," he stepped, closing a distance between them, "You don't have to be nervous."

"What do you mean nervous?"

"You know," he leaned closer, "Those stutters, avoiding my eyes and all that. . . Tetsuya, you know who I am – I'm not one to be fooled."

Tetsuya snorted. For the first time, the baby blue pools hardened, a stare turned to a glare instead. "Are you. . . Are you scolding me?"

"Oh, come on. I'm just stating my point."

"Yeah right, you're mad because I kept a thing or two for myself. But what about you? You kept a girl for yourself and decided to tell me after a long time of affair. I bet you both fucked already, didn't you?" It came out as a spat, a harsh one.

 _Ah, this again. . ._ "I didn't say anything about that. No, no, no. I didn't brought this up. . ." Seijuurou raised his hands in defence, thoroughly offended. "And for your information, I haven't done her yet. But if you'd been thinking about her, well then I'm thinking of reconsidering it."

True to his expectations, the shorter male gasped and he ended up throwing a pillow toward Seijuurou.

"Just go away!"

"I was just –" jaws working, he swallowed. He turned away spitefully. "Tetsuya, I didn't mean to argue."

"Well, you are now!" the other one cried, his eyes becoming glossy.

"You know if you just tell me what's going on, then maybe we wouldn't be like this!"

"Just leave me alone!" The tears were already falling, a perfect droplet obvious on his cherub cheeks.

Unnoticed by the two of them, another unwilling occupant peeked through the creak of the door. Afraid of what was going on, she stifled her cries in silence and left from becoming a further witness. Instead, the pink-haired girl ran to the other direction, her intention back to her own room but she found herself stumbled to the floorboards with a loud thud. The couple in a heated argument heard the haste footsteps and the sound of the crash, disrupting them till the house itself turned eerie silent. Immediately, Tetsuya raced to Sakura, shocked to see a fuzzy pink-haired sobbing in the floor. And that was when he instantly realised; Sakura was witnessing the argument.

"Sakura. . ."

She whimpered weakly, trying her best attempts to crawl far from one of her caretaker.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. . . You saw the whole thing?"

"N-N-No. . . Eh. . . Em. . ." She finalised her answer contrary to her previous response.

The blunette softened his eyes. He hauled the little girl to stand up once more, and once she did, he pulled her into a tight embrace. He could feel his own tears as well, still fresh and falling.

"Will _chichiue_ and _otou-san_ won't be together anymore?"

"No. . . No. . . Of course we'll still be together," he tried smiling, but even the smiles didn't reach his eyes.

"Th-Then, promise me not to fight anymore. . ."

"I. . . promise."

"Pinky promise?"

"Promise," Tetsuya giggled, a rise of his tonality dropped the crestfallen bearing.

From behind the door, Seijuurou was only capable of staring toward the wonder, his eyes unfocused as he spaced out. Eyes fluttering shut, he focused on the events before and groaned regretfully. There was a throbbing headache on his temples, one hand propped against and massaged the spot. Such a mess it was, especially when it didn't cease the strange feelings he was having. He heaved a heavy sigh. It wasn't what he planned after all.

* * *

And so, Sakura was sent back to her own house. She was as silent as a mouse, not even bidding her godparent a proper goodbye as she returned to her bedroom at once just as she arrived. Her mother had given Seijuurou a look, not at all a pleasant one, gesturing a signal toward the direction of the little girl. The only thing that was capable of coming out from his lips was that she had a bad stomach ache, and that was it. Even so – as observant as she was, good ol'Satsuki – she still eyed him as if he was an antagonist. Something in the eyes full of rose and cherry blossom shades told her that she knew of their backstory. Indeed most women had that particular aspects after all. And Seijuurou just knew about it when the woman halted her movement of closing the door. With her eyes glued onto the marble, she nibbled on her lip, saying – "Don't be too harsh on Tetchan, okay?"

He felt guiltier than ever before.

Of course, he realised he was harsh after all.

It was when he returned home, expecting a certain short male greeting him in the living room but then he realised that he wasn't at home. Something about it gave him chills, an urge to shudder against the thought. But really, he wasn't one who would stop the latter from going anywhere he wanted to go. Seijuurou allowed him to have that freedom after all. It was then, Seijuurou decided to watch the telly – better spending a day to relax his bones and brain. The redhead settled comfortably on the couch, his back leaning against velvet cushions and his fingers grazed upon a papery material. He pulled out an envelope from the settee.

"What's this?" It was an envelope all right, still sealed and looked confidential. Instantly, he knew it belonged to Tetsuya. Of all times, why now? – and Seijuurou was itching to open it. But he visualised the tears this early morning, the pained look he gave just because of one question meaning to intrude a small portion of his privacy. There was no way the redhead wanted such incident to repeat itself again. Thus, the envelope was placed somewhere else – the redhead trying his best to feign ignorance toward the one and only letter for (or perhaps about) Tetsuya.

* * *

Tetsuya always hated hospitals. He abhorred the strong, acrid scent hanging around the wards and waiting rooms and corridors. The nurses were always in haste, either running or pacing back and forth, into or out of the patients' rooms. And he sure wasn't a big fan of seeing patients getting hooked by multiple of IVs and needles or those beneath the white sheets chased down to the emergency rooms. Today was no better as well, he was continuously pushed down by both workers and visitors, and he spent too long inside the waiting room filled with people of different ages. The only person he ever preferred to meet was Takao, who worked side by side with his said lover, of course. Constantly, the man with his ever-so-cheerful mien would lift his moods and he found himself smiling a bit despite the location.

It was nearly afternoon when he exited the large, whitewashed building. He exhaled a rather long huff when he was finally out, breathing in fresh oxygen. And yet, he was met with Taiga who had a bandage wrapped around his left arm, giving the latter a mousy curl on the lips when he noticed he was giving a firm but concerned look.

"It was just a burn when I tried to rescue a boy in Shinjuku. This is nothing serious," he grinned triumphantly. For a person who recently worked as a fireman, that was very reckless of him. Even so, Kagami Taiga was always the reckless type. He was only ever so good when he started playing basketball. And he had quit from a team in America a year ago just to return back to Japan. _Kami_ knows what his reason was.

"Well, I'm glad you're fine. . ." The short lad snorted, his eyes averted to the scarlet pools and back to the wounded arm. He looked a tad disturbed. Tetsuya was one who couldn't handle looking at wounds after all.

"How about you? What are you doing in the hospital?"

"Oh, um. . . visiting an old friend. . ." Was it just him, Taiga thought, or the blunette started flinching when he was questioned.

"Who?"

"Y'know. . . A friend of mine from college – yeah, Hoshine-senpai?"

"Hoshine. . . Hoshine Aya? I thought she was in hospitalised in Akibahara? I think she's in Kyoundo Hospital. . ."

"A-Ah. . . She was transferred to this hospital because. . . reasons? How do I supposed to know, _Bakagami_."

The taller one retorted back, playfully defending himself. "Hey, I'm just asking! Tch, is it wrong to ask?"

Tetsuya giggled when he heard and saw the man started to grumble. It was often when he started to grumble, the blunette noticed he had a slight resemblance to Daiki after all. Supposed they could be twins if they were to have similar physical features. He smiled fondly over the memories of them arguing over tiny matters, back when they were still in high school.

"Oh well, I'm going back," feigning a languid aura, he somehow felt sluggish,"See you, Kagami-kun."

The blunette was about to turn away when Taiga shouted back at him. "O-Oi, wait!"

"Hm?"

"You know. . . Recently, Momoi's been calling me and she said that you seemed a bit down lately," Taiga reluctantly cleared his throat, "If you feel like you need a friend to talk, you can talk to me. . . Okay?"

For a moment, the latter expected a rejection – a laugh or a snorting sound and rolling his baby blue eyes in sarcasm. But the blunette only stood firm on his grounds, his eyes unfocused for a moment as if he was searching his tongue back. It was only when a matter of seconds passed, the blunette had a small stretch upon his lips and he muttered slowly; "Thanks, Kagami-kun." The mentioned one was fortunate enough to have the other male turned away once the heat on his cheeks started spreading.

"Anytime. . ."

His wandering gaze lowered until it reached the ground. There was more he wanted to speak of, but as he parted his lips and looked up the words pulled into a silent gasp and he could only watched the latter walked away to his own car. The red-haired man sighed, disappointed. Only thing that remained for so long was the blush spreading across his cheeks.

* * *

Tetsuya wasn't one that despised his own house. But considering there was a certain redhead at home, he was being reluctant. Even so, the park he lingered for so long didn't cease his unease emotions. He could see the skies turning into rich autumn shades, blending in with the darkest cobalt and grey skies. His own baby blue remained at the sight of the space, so vast and so clear, the view was wide and beautiful. By now, little children and their parents were leaving to their respective homes, college students chasing after buses to return to their own dorms before it got darker. Yet, he remained seated on the bench, watching as others fled like a flock of birds, thronging the streets and lanes back to the neighbourhood. He remained until the last drop of amber, the streetlights switched and bright lights poured toward one spot on each rows upon rows of the streets. He remained there; just looking and observing and catching every moment. The blunette wasn't one to notice the time though, it was as if to him that time never existed at all. Or perhaps, he was too caught up in his own world to see the day changing from bright to dark.

He didn't notice it was almost night till he felt warmth spreading all over his body, a coat larger than his own size hung limply around his shoulders. Cringing (he almost jumped actually), his face whipped upwards just to meet with a concerned look belonged to none other than Akashi Seijuurou. Tetsuya retreated to the side for a bit.

"He. . .Hey. . . Why are you here?" His tone was unexpectedly soft. In the inside, the blunette almost melted listening to his voice. He covered his mouth with his lips, holding back the whine when he felt like he wanted to cry.

Seijuurou was always the unfair one. Even when he was in the wrong point, he had the ability of making others apologising to him no matter what. Tetsuya was no exception. Yet, he learnt better after living for a few years – not really about to not remain unaffected but to hold back.

"I just want to be alone for a while," he sniffed, followed by a pronounced sulk.

Seijuurou sighed. "Even if you want to, you can't. It's getting colder."

"I don't care. . ."

"Tetsuya, listen to me at least once."

"No – I mean, please Sei. . ." Tetsuya had his own self shocked as he gestured his spouse with a rather strong push. The shorter male swallowed a bit of his shame, spitting out the quivering words, "Leave me alone. . ."

The redhead sighed toward his own wife's – er, husband's troublesome antics in the interim. Finally, he spat the firm, infamous tone he was capable on, "If that's what you want. But I'm not a cruel man to allow you to do that. Here. Alone." Before the other could retaliate, he grabbed Tetsuya by the hips – halted for a moment as the other struggled for his own freedom – and had his arms securely gripping his buttocks. Tetsuya felt his weight shifted until he was in safe arms. Even so, the dissatisfaction was still visible and he was actually angry – yes, angry! – when he felt he was forced to do this.

"Let me down! Now! Sei, you better –" On and on, the blunette, who was known to be a man with few words, were throwing all kinds of words at his own husband. Ranging from harsh ones to curses to profanities. The stronger man attempted his best to ignore, yet the words were getting louder and there wasn't any stopping to this. So, he did what he had to do – and that was to kiss Tetsuya. On the lips. With tongue. Hard. "Mmff –!"

Seijuurou felt a brief moment of pain, tasting blood on his lips when he realised the other one had taken an opportunity of hurting him by rough bites. In return, he led the submissive one by the tongue, coaxing Tetsuya's mind until he went dead mute.

Finally, he pulled his face away to stare upon the hardest glare Tetsuya could gave him. The redhead found himself licking the numbness off his lips, throwing back a triumphant glee to the blunette. It was when they returned to the car – Seijuurou's BMW – he placed the blunette gently on the passenger seat and leaned closer. Closer that Tetsuya, in spite of the heavy thump in his chest, was feeling uncomfortable.

Seijuurou recollected back memories upon memories of Tetsuya. His stubbornness, one trait he dreaded the most – his childish refusal over the choice of food, the bad habits – his silent mien treasuring all the secrets which weren't meant to be kept – the redhead knew he had been gaining strength from such attitude. And he knew that whatever Tetsuya was keeping could be put aside for now; and that he could wait.

Only one thing could reveal everything.

Time. Because time developed love, shaping the oddballs of feelings into something much more greater. Because time gave people chances to think, to make a decision. And time was all he needed. More time, and one day he would know.

"One day, Tetsuya. . ."

But Tetsuya knew the redhead longed to know. His eyes, a pair of gems of a remarkable, polished ruby and royal shades of topaz was glinting with hints of a pained expression. He repeated the two words again, slowly putting off barricades of distance between their faces. Tetsuya knew if he would repeat the words once more, he would unleash his tears and confess. But the redhead didn't.

Across the lanes, Seijuurou drove the two of them back home. An eerie silence shrouded the insides of the car. Tetsuya pretended he was sleeping, but slowly he was nibbling on his lip. Again and again, he told himself. . .

"One day. . ."

It hurts. It hurts so bad.

He knew the letter was a futile attempt of exposing this one conflict of their tale.

* * *

" _Ah, Akashi-san. It's been a week, hasn't it? How are you feeling today?"_

" _Okay, I guess."_

" _So, anything that you wanted to tell me?"_

" _Nothing much. . . It's just that. . ."_

" _What is it, Akashi-san?"_

" _I don't feel like going to regular check-ups anymore. Can today be the last of our meeting – I mean, it's not like you were a bad doctor or anything."_

 _The woman in clinical coat laughed. "It's okay, Akashi-san. I can understand your distress as well. Judging from your expression, you still keep this matter as a secret. Don't you?"_

" _Y-Yeah. . ."_

 _The doctor's hazel eyes softened. "I pray for the best of you two. . . And since, there's nothing we both can do, yes you may not come for your check-up anymore."_

" _R-Really?!"_

" _Of course!" The young but experienced doctor giggled. "Just promise me you spend more time with your family, okay?"_

" _Of course. . . Of course, I will. . ."_

 _He was only about to leave. Yet, the doctor halted his steps with her words._

" _Akashi-san."_

" _Y-yeah?"_

" _Don't be too harsh on yourself."_

" _Okay. . ."_

 _He left the doctor's office, crystalline rivulets rolling down his cheeks._

" _I won't," that's what he told himself._

 _We all knew it was the opposite._

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : What if I told you that Tetsuya will – *evil laughter more evil than evil* I know, I know. . . I just wanna see if this can get 200 or not. I felt challenged. XD**

 **Should I make a one-sided KagaKuro?**

 **In later chapters, I want to make them having a vacation. Should it be USA or China or Singapore? Maybe I'll be doing America or Europe after all, hehee. But next chapter will be about Yui and her backstory as well and a bit of AkaKuro angst as usual. Up to this chapter, I think you guys wanna be a little bit observant than before. Huehue.**

 **Maybe Tetsuya will be *coughs* after all. *puts deal with it shades***

 **X for love, O for hate!**

 **Follow me on Instagram; mie_rawr**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	10. Day Nine (Sunday)

**Credits :**

 **Guest**

 **superjunior101315**

 **Japan lover 4839**

 **MaiaLoveOreos**

 **Animaddict**

 **Akakuro Seiya**

 **Guest**

 **Visitor from ao3**

 **Yue**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Belle'Masque**

 **nawdah**

 **paradox**

 **otomezone**

 **XienRue**

 **Tetchin**

 **Akakuro**

 **thepockywhowrites**

 **reginefrance09**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **NOTE : 200 or no update. . .? Too evil? Nah, I'm just joking. Two people bawled, I'm sorry I haven't update. /sighs**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY NINE**

 **Sunday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker's reflection."_

― _Lady Gaga_

* * *

What is trust?

They said it's the most fragile thing you'd come to know. They warned others to be wary around trust, that is to hold and tend it with the upmost care. They said trust is a bliss to gain, but a burden to carry. And trust was given to you as a bestowal from someone special, a reward from the time and patience you had to endure. The impeccable definition itself told such matter beautiful, yet not many was aware of the ugly side effects they had to face once the tables turned. According to a certain redhead, trust is. . . well, when one trusted his heart to someone else. And trust formed love. And trust is when they showed all their vulnerabilities to those who had received their love.

Akashi Seijuurou knew that he deserved every bit of remorse biting back at his pride, the thoughts of his mostly about Tetsuya and how his heart betrayed his supposedly eternal lover. The blunette's trust was thrown away as if it was nothing but a fruitless junk. And that was why he was in no way to beg for forgiveness now despite the fact that day by day, his icy cold heart was melting like an iceberg shrinking from global warming. For a few days now, he felt that heat – the warmth that lingered – and his emotions were beginning to get mixed up, confused and funny all over. Like they were running wild, conflicted between the Sahara's heat or Arctic's frozen winter. Yet, he knew he deserved nothing out of Tetsuya. Even if whatever curiosity fighting his ice-melted soul, the brilliant mind of him seemed to be holding him back and made him stay put. The redhead knew Tetsuya had secrets of his own, but after yesterday – was he seriously going to continue the chase? Seijuurou sighed, was it possible to regain the blunette's trust? Perhaps, because of what he did that Tetsuya was reluctant of telling him whatever was in his mind. . . or the envelope.

Trust was indeed a difficult thing to maintain. Trust was too fragile, much to the redhead's chagrin, like a mirror made pure from glass. It was when the mirror shattered into shards and pieces, it would never be as similar as before no matter how much a repairman could glue the remnants together. Reconsidering there would be obvious cracks and gaps that would be impossible to enclose it as one, fine masterpiece as it was previously. And that was the kind of sorrow he wanted to avoid.

The redhead sighed for the umpteenth time of the day – despite the morning's sunshine yet to come. He wasn't able to get even a few blinks of sleep last night. Beside him, the blunette was gently sighing in his sleep, sporadically tossing about or arms tangled in between the pillow that was supposed to be beneath his head. Tetsuya's face was the most serene in his sleeps. Not that Seijuurou would want to admit, but he quite enjoyed watching the latter sleeping soundly.

And unfortunately, he had to get up. He had an. . . appointment – alright, damn, he was courting the Yamanaka lady today. After a few coaxes last night, he managed to squeeze out a promise – in between the cries and bickers of the ebony-haired woman – that he'd take her somewhere before she gets back to her own hometown. The day was today. Luckily, there wasn't anything to be done at home as well. He just hoped Tetsuya might be just fine. Seijuurou puffed out a cloud of air, as he rose to his feet and left the sleeping blunette unattended.

* * *

Once again, the blunette woke up to straighten his arms and found out there wasn't anyone beside him. Again, the odd feeling crawled up to his spine. That similar space was what he dreaded the most. Looking at the emptiness beside him, nothing but the crinkles of the sheets proved the existence of Akashi Seijuurou. He'd been saying it to himself that maybe Seijuurou waking up next to him would start to be a norm. Guess it was just his mind playing games on him again. Of course, it wasn't like every day would be a repeat of the same routine. Sometimes, other people needed a change of their life. Right, he knew that. And Tetsuya was thinking that perhaps, he needed the fresh air more than Seijuurou do. Although today. . . instead of the common blank expression, he felt rather lonely. The uneasiness unbearable to the blunette, and he stifled a silent whimper. It was just like what he thought. Seijuurou may not need him anymore. But he did. He knew Seijuurou was strong enough, never really needed a companion by his side. But he did.

The gossamer string of tears crawled out from the baby blue pools but he immediately wiped them away. He steered away from the bed, taming his wild mane into a much comfortable-looking hairstyle. He puffed; It seemed like he was going to be alone as well for today. Yet, just as he did, his iPhone 5s (finally, a good use of it!) rang from the table top. He looked at the flashing screen, bearing the name _Kagami-kun_ on it.

"Kagami-kun?"

"Hey, Kuroko, er, Tetsu. . ." he trailed off, mumbling of the inconvenience of surnames and such, "The Seirin team are having a reunion party tonight. You want to join?"

Azure eyes widened. Oh, he had totally forgotten about it. A few weeks ago, Riko did called him to tell him about the reunion. Why did he forgot about it already? Tetsuya swallowed. "Yeah, sure. . . What time is it again?"

"Eight. We're thinking of playing a game too," he heard the redhead laughed from the line, "We all missed that."

"Me too." He smiled.

The blunette made up his mind. Tonight, he'd forget about Akashi Seijuurou. Just for a day. He exhaled, somewhat feeling a little bad for giving his husband a taste of his own karma. Yet, it was what he needed too – a night out, just drinking and chilling. There was these voices starting to appear at the back of his mind, screaming the mantra of "Just do it!". The invitation was already tempting enough.

 _I'll just go out for a while. . ._ he firmly nodded to his own decisions.

"Kuro – damn it, Tetsu. . .?" The one from across the line was reluctant toward the non-existent reply he was giving. Breaking out from his trance, he quickly apologised toward the other redhead. "I'll go," he quickly said, although the tight voice gave away his desperateness.

"See you. . ."

* * *

Apparently, the Akashi heir wasn't having it that night. At first, his curiosity piqued when he came home with the blunette searching for his trainers inside the shoe rack, and was properly dressed up for some outing. His spouse only gave him a blank look – one that sent him to an endless pit of guilt but also a raging temper seething in the back of his head. He held back his tongue, gritting his teeth along as he hoped his voice wasn't going to be tight and hoarse. Unfortunately, standing there wasn't doing any good. He saw Tetsuya quickened his movements, tying the second last shoe lace with his slender fingers trembling along the way. The curiosity did not cease. Alas, his heart won over his – much more rational – mind and he blown it. Out came the dreaded envy – no, not quite yet. He was never envious of Tetsuya. He was jealous to whoever was bringing the blunette out. The question spilt out, and he sealed back his lips upon the hardened glare Tetsuya flashed him.

"You went out this morning, and I didn't ask anything."

"Well –" He clasped the frail wrist, surprised to see that he was getting skinnier than before.

"Sei-kun, just let me off for tonight." But the hold tightened, firm and strong and hurting the flinching blunette.

The redhead looked hesitant. He was afraid. Afraid of Tetsuya and their broken bond of trust. Afraid that he might never returned home. He was extremely afraid that the karma wasn't something he could handle. This exact moment, he knew that Tetsuya was always his pillar of strength. That whatever restrained his energy from his work, or whatever occurred in the outside world, he would returned home to see the patience and strength held in those beautiful azure eyes. He realised he needed the strength. "A-Alright," he gulped, releasing his tight hold as if he was freeing a caged bird all along.

Tetsuya saw those mismatched eyes; noticed the swirl of emotions running beneath the raw sienna and crimson. He smiled softly. After all, no other characteristics could compete over this soft heart of his. Touching the warm cheek belonging to the reluctant redhead, he whispered slowly. "We might as well do the deal for today."

Seijuurou nodded and leaned forward, closing the gap that often became their barriers in between. Their lips finally touched. The kiss felt foreign, because it was a day without kisses and they were scared on how much their emotions would take them farther. Even so, Seijuurou wanted to experiment on this much longer. Overall, he had to admit, he missed this moment. The moment their lips sealed and nothing else mattered. Prying his eyes opened, he glanced over the blue pools of cerulean skies peeping back at him. Once the blunette gasped, embarrassed, he invited his tongue inside, clashing against Tetsuya's own pink flesh.

Meanwhile, Tetsuya's mind was reeling. His visions hazy from the fervent kisses, and he was starting to become weak-kneed. Of all sort of kisses, the open-tongue one was the least he expected. Yet, in the midst of the make-out session – he felt his back thudded against the wall and he clutched Seijuurou's collar – the redhead was smirking and he nibbled the lower lip playfully before fully releasing the lip lock. He stroked the azure tufts, this time he kissed on top of the forehead before untangling their arms together, not that they took heed of them when they were. . . well, fulfilling the deal. Before, the mischief was plain obvious in the heterochromia eyes. But amidst of it, Tetsuya noticed the sorrow that began to take over the devilish, contented look.

"Hey," he stroked Seijuurou's cheeks. "Sei –"

And yet, the redhead interrupted him. He pushed the blunette away before strolling deeper into the living room. "You're late. . . Just. . . Just come back, okay?"

"Okay. . ."

Seijuurou trusted him.

Even with their fucked up relationship, Seijuurou trusted him. Even when Seijuurou didn't really love him anymore, he trusted the blunette. Trust. . . It was the thing he held dear. The beautiful element known as trust, was what Seijuurou was entrusting him at the moment. He wasn't even sure anymore. Both of them were confused. Still, he nodded and flashed his best smiles.

He repeated again, this time clear and determined. "Okay."

* * *

Yet, Akashi Tetsuya didn't return early that night.

No, it was a quarter to midnight – midnight! Seijuurou was starting to doubt his spouse, the teensy feeling growing out of him. There was something else too, a typical emotion he endured for a long time too yet it was stronger than the doubt he just experienced. The fear was crawling into him. Whatever Tetsuya was hiding, he was scared that maybe it had got to do something with. . . well. . . deaths? He couldn't think of the blunette sprawled on the ground, murdered by chronic disease or something. It was a painful muse, and his doubt disappeared, replaced by the common fear dwelling permanently in his chest.

He wasted no more time.

Screw the outdoor garments, he wanted no other thing but to find Tetsuya. There were many possibilities to where the blunette might be, missing or perhaps lost – but he never been lost in his entire time – or still, chilling inside the bar with his drunkard buddies. He hoped it wasn't either three of them. But what else could he be doing? Slipping into his car, the redhead instantly reached out to his phone and dialled Taiga's number. Fortunately, the other redhead picked up after the fourth rings.

"Akashi? Why're you calling me?"

"Are you still with Tetsuya?"

"Ku – Tetsu?" The other latter sounded genuinely confused, or in other words, the increased volume meant that even Taiga was starting to get panic. "He went home an hour ago!"

 _An hour ago? He must've reached home by now._

"Oh. . . Alright, thanks."

Albeit, when he crossed the third neighbourhood away from the condominium blocks they lived in, his eyes caught sight of a certain flash of blue curled up like a ball in some neighbourhood's park. _What is he doing here?!_ The redhead swallowed, in fear to what his imagination gave him recently. He didn't mind the midnight breeze biting his skin like knives. He rushed from his car to the blunette he knew so well. The distance between them decreased until he was standing in front of the blunette – flinching at the sight of Tetsuya passed out, the only surface was the wide sheet of greensward and his coat acting as the only heat provider despite the chilly autumn. Seijuurou's own warm hands woke the latter, and he almost jumped once he saw the sight in front him.

For the first time, the Akashi heir witnessed the breakdown of his spouse. Tetsuya broke into tears, he flung his arms around the redhead's neck and sobbed against his chest. Baffled, the only thing Seijuurou was capable of doing was to rub his hands against the shivering blunette's back. Truth was, he too, was trembling in fear.

Not that he cared, but even he – an Akashi for _Kami's_ sake! – was choking back his own tears. He held Tetsuya's face, fingers stroking the cherubic cheeks scarlet from the autumn's chill. "Why are you here?" He finally asked, albeit the fact that he was yelling. The turmoil of anger was directed right to himself. . . Although, in truth, he was angry to why the blunette would rather holed up in some random park and not going back home.

Yet, the blunette's response was one that he would least predict. He sort of assumed of an excuse, or an angry retort. However, the blunette had nothing of it. Instead, in between sobs and hiccups, his words were sincere and honest. . .

Somehow, it feared the redhead to no end.

"I don't remember. . ."

Seijuurou gulped. What in the world did he meant by that?

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I'm not satisfied with this haste-written chapter. Curse writer's block! I have to reread Webtoon again!**

 **You see, I have no intention on making these lovely characters OOC. But sometimes, I gotta align them with the story. If you think they're too OOC though, please tell me. I could still fix up their charas.**

 **I'm exhausted.**

 **SHAMELESS ADVERTISING! CHECK OUT MY NEW STORIES, PARAGON AND RED EARTH! THEY'RE LONG AND FLUFFY AND STAYS UNTIL CHAPTER 80 I GUARANTEE YOU! BECAUSE THIS THING FINISHES NEXT YEAR AND YOU NEED ANOTHER TWO YEARS OF SUSTAINABLE FLUFF SO READ PARAGON AND RED EARTH CAUSE THEY'RE GONNA BE FLUFFY. *laughs* There's also a promising angst, hahahah.**

 **X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	11. Day Ten (Monday)

**Credits :**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Akakuro Seiya**

 **fanaticz**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Animaddict**

 **mwaheumi**

 **Cheshire ShiroNeko**

 **Gly**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Guest**

 **DeathBitten**

 **XienRue**

 **kiko**

 **Me**

 **Note : I love you all! Thanks for the reviews. Especially those who are sweet enough to send two reviews! Wow! I've been pressured writing this lately. So much researches. But as much as I hate to admit it, it's not Alzheimer guys! I've done my research and it's well. . . something else.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY TEN**

 **Monday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _The suspense: the fearful, acute suspense: of standing idly by while the life of one we dearly love, is trembling in the balance; the racking thoughts that crowd upon the mind, and make the heart beat violently, and the breath come thick, by the force of the images they conjure up before it; the desperate anxiety to be doing something to relieve the pain, or lessen the danger, which we have no power to alleviate; the sinking of soul and spirit, which the sad remembrance of our helplessness produces; what tortures can equal these; what reflections of endeavours can, in the full tide and fever of the time, allay them!"_

― _Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist_

* * *

One would describe Akashi Seijuurou depressed on one early morning. Who knows why? It was Monday after all. Nine out of ten people despise Mondays, the typical bad day for every living being, as one would call it. Though it was more than just depression, he was sleep deprived – high from coffee – and low in mood to do work that even his own secretary was annoyed having to remind him on every appointments he had with clients today. It was then, he gave up his work, told his secretary to cancel all appointments and meetings he had today and decided to lay off a bit. He requested more caffeine to make him stay awake but the more he was in the reality world, the more nauseous he was getting.

The thoughts about Tetsuya lingered, and so did the fear. He wasn't quite sure why he was afraid, but last night the words sounded as genuine as he would've proposed to the blunette years ago. He knew those words too well – not that he knew someone experienced by those, but it was something commonly seen in shows, in those sappy love stories written by heartbroken writers or simply writers inspired by how sad their lives were. Yet, it was one word he dreaded so far but was coming real into his eyes.

Dementia.

What's worse than death?

Of course, Tetsuya was too young to have Alzheimer. He dimly remembered his grandfather, he was eighty something when he had the cursed disease. And Alzheimer was caused by some sort of failure in the brain cells, rose from a complex series of brain changes that occurred over decades of living. Tetsuya was just around his late twenties, reaching to his third decade. So, what could have caused Tetsuya to have dementia?

There was still hope, Seijuurou wondered. Dementia was, in fact, just a theory. Maybe it was some other diseases. Maybe Tetsuya was drunk last night – even though, he smelt nothing of alcohol but one could only hope. Maybe Tetsuya was confused because, well, he remembered back in the university the blunette couldn't even memorised a simple set of mathematical theorems. Maybe that was just it. Dementia just popped inside his head because he was shit scared.

The redhead didn't realise he was crying. Or at least, what you could count a few drops of pure liquid was considered crying. He was shivering though, amidst the chilly autumn season, a full blast air conditioner sounded like a bad idea. Apparently, it wasn't a shocking scene when his secretary slipped into his room to report about some workers' status just to find the CEO curled on his knees, looking like a lost puppy. Lost in between two emotions, she was figuring out whether to let out a chortle or gave him the emphatic look. Conflicted by her own emotions, she chose to puff out a cloud of air, placed the documents on top of the wide – and neat – surface. She set her arms akimbo to her waist, firm but polite. "Sir, I think you need a good vacation."

"Wh –", the redhead coughed, blinking the mismatched pair as if he was recovering from a hangover, "What are you saying?"

"In my opinion, sir," she pushed a glass of water toward confused Seijuurou, "You need a good rest from all your problems. Somewhere peaceful with your, um, lover and clear whatever complicated things affecting your brain."

The latter clicked his tongue, finally having his cladded feet touching the soft paddings of carpet. "I'm fine, Mirai."

"You don't _look_ fine at all."

"Seriously –"

"I'm booking your tickets to Philippines."

"To what. . .?" The Akashi heir looked twice as clueless as he had been before. This time his hands propped against the table as he leaned closer to the office desk in surprise, crimson and gold pair wide.

The secretary who went by the name Mirai only smiled, a genuine one before bowing politely toward her boss. Before she fully exited the room, she noted the information about said vacation. "The flight is tomorrow's night, I'll book two tickets to Manila then."

"Make it three," the redhead groaned.

Mirai halted her heels. She glanced backwards, reluctantly. "Three?"

"We're taking care of a child."

"Oh, well then. . ." she shook her head, amused at the fact that her boss – who she knew was homosexual – was taking a child as if it was his own. "Enjoy the family holiday tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll take care of every business you have here." Giving her boss a last simper, she retreated back to her secretary corner filled up with more files and papers. Mirai groaned, albeit not complaining.

She never expected an assistant's life to be this difficult after all.

Meanwhile, brooding inside a large office sat a man named Akashi Seijuurou. Still recovering from the overdose of coffee, yet there was a small smile befitting his handsome features and his chiselled jaw going numb from the continuous grin he had. The redhead looked like an idiot, smiling all by himself, chuckling alone without a single person or any kinds of entertainment.

Perhaps, Mondays weren't that bad.

* * *

Sakura was torn from whether she should be joyful or forlorn. First, there was her mother. Once again, with her work in a designing company filling her schedule full caused her to leave to the United States for a week. It was quite disappointing for a five year old child. Children were supposed to be with their mothers, pampered and loved by the hands of a woman who bore them in their wombs. Alas, not just the father of the family, but her mother was also a busy one. One had went to the army for a year, the other one gone for a week. Yet, she had Tetsuya – and Seijuurou as the godfather of her own imaginative family. Although they weren't the ones who gave birth to her, the both of them were what her idealistic parents would be in her own fantasised world. A week with the two of them wouldn't be that bad after all.

The pink-haired child tried her very best to forget about the incident a few days ago. It was normal for couples to have arguments sometimes, she told herself. It was quite foolish to cry over such matter.

So, she smiled a bit when Satsuki stroked the light tufts of cerise hair and gazed upon two pools of grey-blue eyes. Her mother sniffled a bit, holding back a teardrop as she gave a final hug – not that it was a permanent leave anyway.

"Be a good girl for _okaa-san_ , okay?" Satsuki flicked her nose.

"Promise! _Chichiue_ is here for Sakura-chan, anyway."

They exchanged glances for a while before the woman put on a lopsided smile full of playful mischief and she ruffled the cerise cascades into a mess. "Don't give your new mommy a headache."

"Momoi-san, I'm a male."

"Just joking, Tetchan." Satsuki winked, "Goodbye, dear," she held the little girl's hands, "See you within a week."

"Okay, _okaa-san_." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Satsuki stood up to her feet, her conversation transferred from her own daughter to the caretaker she trusted most. "Hey Tetchan, take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, Momoi-san."

"Don't lie!" she laughed, yet her tone was sorrow and her eyes dropped to a dull shade of cerise. She pulled the short male into a friendly hug, patting his back before releasing him with a sigh. "Be good with Akashi. . . You both deserve something happy."

Silence, silence and then a sigh. ". . . I'll think about it."

"Goodbye," Satsuki turned just after her last wave, and then left a few moments after.

The little girl glanced upon her caretaker for a while. Curious to what actually happened, she pulled the hem of Tetsuya's shirt. "What did _okaa-san_ means about _chichiue_ and _otou-san_?" The question caused him to pull away slightly, but he remained his composure and shook his head. "It's nothing important, Sacchan. . . You should go to school now."

"Eh. . ." Sakura pouted. "Okay then."

* * *

The sun fell down to its horizon as slow as a snail today. Well, that was what happened when one was waiting. Apparently, there was nothing Seijuurou wanted but to return back to the condominium block, and reported Tetsuya regarding of the good news. He was hoping that he get the chance to see the joy returned to those blue pools once again. And oh, how he missed those gazes. Gentle and serene but he knew those eyes were brimming with enthralling tales and memories to treasure.

He drove back home as fast as he could, only slowing down when passing over an officer's car. The redhead was greeted with laughter and a whiff of a merry dinner. Sakura was indeed very loud – laughing and giggling and perhaps running around the kitchen just to mess around with the blunette. He leaned by the kitchen's door, watching the commotion occurred in front of his eyes. True to his thought, the little girl was attempting to mix chocolate to curry, much to the blunette's chagrin. It was only when he gave out a little cough, which caused both attentions went straight to him.

"Oh, Sei. . . You're back." The blunette evaded his gaze. "Y-You're quite early today."

"Yeah, because I have to tell you something." The redhead stepped closer, closing the gap in between till his breaths reached to Tetsuya's soft tufts. He tried his best to sound serious, as if something bad was to occur.

For once, Sakura watched with intent focus and she was mute like a dead radio. She was afraid to whatever news her _otou-san_ might bring up.

"Wh-what is it. . .?" Tetsuya sounded genuinely worried.

Seijuurou hid his smiles. "We."

"We. . ."

"Are. . ."

"Are going to break apart. . .?" Tetsuya silently whispered, his head hung low as he hid back the gossamer tears.

Seijuurou winced. " _Kami_ , no. . . Let me finish this, Tetsuya."

"O-okay," sobbed the blunette.

"We're going to a vacation."

He released a satisfied huff, finally distancing himself slightly from the teary-eyed blunette. For once, he was gasping not because it was a shock – although, indeed it was a surprise; but a wonderful one! – and Tetsuya couldn't help but let out a reluctant laughter. He choked back his tears, yet he was smiling.

It was now or never. So, the Akashi heir took his chance to hold the shivering hands and kissed every digits belonged to the blunette. Tetsuya threw his head back, laughing like a madman – since it was the good news he heard so far. Sakura was still confused, but hearing there was vacation, she too was celebrating on her own. That was, until Seijuurou pulled her closer and hugged her.

"Happy?" He winked at the little girl.

"Mm!" She replied with a swift nod.

The blunette lightly punched Seijuurou by the shoulder, his eyes furrowed as if he was actually angry. But of course, he was failing at hiding his grin and he gave Seijuurou a brief but tight squeeze.

Tetsuya whispered, "Is this your way of dealing with our promise?"

The redhead could only respond with a shrug. "Think of it as reward."

" _Bakashi_."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : So many fluff till I drop the atomic bomb. . . I have to say, this story is making me depressed. One day, I whatsapped my best friend aka mastermind of the story and she's like "NOW DROP THE BOMB!" huehuehue**

 **Guys, please try reading Paragon! It's sexy and fluffy if you need a remedy from this angst!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2015)**


	12. Day Eleven (Tuesday)

**CREDITS :**

 **Animaddict**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Gly**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **XienRue**

 **whisperingmist**

 **zoedapoey**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **mariaelennaella**

 **Eruma**

 **CheshireSN**

 **AnimeShipperr**

 **FatmaRoima**

 **Guest**

 **Sapphyre Lily**

 **Note : Sometimes, I'm sad my other fics didn't get recognition as this one. But I still love you all and thank you for giving me ideas in times I was stuck! Anyway, I won't be updating my other stories lest this one finished.**

 **SHOUTOUTS TO CHESHIRE SHIRONEKO FOR BEING MY TOURIST GUIDE VIA FACEBOOK MESENGER!**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY ELEVEN**

 **Tuesday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me."_

― _Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games_

* * *

Akashi Seijuurou was starting to assume that today would be a good day.

No, it wasn't the fact that they might be leaving for Philippines in another ten hours. Not also because he would be able to forget everything about work for three days prior. Yet, the reason was because there was a certain person radiating sunshine beside him, even if he was still asleep.

Odd, how could a person sleep with a smile like that? So contented. As if the mentions about divorcement and all hadn't happened to begin with. Or was it because of these holidays he was going to spent. Three short days, yet miracles happened. This being the first, of course.

Of course, he was glad. Sated that he was able to make at least one – or two in this matter – happy. And he was able to forget about the other day; maybe, maybe that was just a part of his imagination. He hoped so. He didn't actually wanted to find out just yet, to be honest.

He huffed, _But what about Yui?_

They hadn't been talking for days. His feelings nothing more than a swift ride of roller coaster, the wheels brought up the ride into its ups and downs of the trail. He didn't feel like calling either. But he knew the Yamanaka heir wasn't one to view a broken relationship due from a long distant.

 _Let's just forget about this at the moment._

He heard the mattress shifted. Beside him, Tetsuya began jarring his eyes open.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Seijuurou muttered, the mattress weighed lightly as he rose from the bed.

Yet there wasn't any response. Usually, there would be a swift reply coming from the blunette, not considering if the tone was low or slightly above from the constant tedious one. This time, though, had none. The redhead gulped and instantly turned around to see the blunette staring straight toward his face. He looked. . . well, he looked blank. For a split second, Seijuurou remembered the incident two nights ago. But Tetsuya looked scared before. Now, he looked nothing more than a spirit waiting for a judgment. "Tetsuya?"

"Ah. . ." Tetsuya touched his temples, "What's this headache early in the morning?"

"H-Hey, are you okay?"

"Eh, S-Sei? Good morning. . ." The blunette yawned and stretched his arms as if nothing just happened. "Why are you just standing there? Help me make breakfast, _Bakashi_."

Perhaps, Seijuurou was just paranoid.

* * *

" _Chichiue_ , _otou-san_ , when are we leaving?!" Sakura couldn't care less that she called her godparents by the nickname in public, despite few people were staring toward her wearing a strangely confused expressions. Heck, she was bored! One thing she despised the most was waiting. And waiting was what they were currently doing.

It was already past the time they were supposed to enter the aeroplane. The least Sakura wanted was to arrive at Manila late at night, and they weren't be able to do anything.

Meanwhile, Tetsuya could only hide his face from the rest using his hands, sweaty palms against heated, scarlet cheeks. "I'm sure the flight attendant will call us sooner or later. . ."

"But it's been hours, _chichiue_! Hooouuuurs!" She extended her arms as if to state the length of time. The Akashi heir laughed, resting one arm against the blunette's shoulder as he amusedly watched the little girl's antics. Unlike Satsuki – who was pretty much a rational person excluding the moments she had been fangirling about Tetsuya – or Daiki, the one with a languid demeanour – Sakura was likely to have her bubbly traits coming from a certain blonde. Seijuurou had no clue how she inherited one's characteristics without sharing the same blood. "It's only been an hour, Sakura," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Eeeh. . ."

The cerise-haired girl slumped against the metallic-shaded seat and puffed her cheeks. But her disappointment would only lasted a minute, then another new set of questions resurfaced from her mind. " _Chichiue,_ when did you two had your honeymoon?"

The redhead sworn he heard his spouse choked.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Honeymoon!" Sakura beamed, "It's like papa and mama did when they tried to make me, papa once said! But why didn't you guys make anything?" She cocked her head to the side, before deciding that her question was indeed a fascinating one.

The blunette was practically steaming, not due to anger but pure embarrassment. "Let's not talk about that for now, okay Sakura-chan?"

"Okay then. . ." she went silent, then, "How about your first kiss?"

"Sakuraaa!"

The redhead was laughing out loud by now, clutching his stomach which was gradually receiving more and more pain from each puffs of laughter. Mortified to seething with anger, the shorter male simply flicked his spouse's cheek each embarrassing question was thrown. "Don't laugh!" he hissed, cherub cheeks fully streaked in scarlet – like two full-grown tomatoes. "How about you answering that?"

"I'll tell the truth," Seijuurou avoided the other one's gaze, instead proceeding to observe others as they waited for their flight to come.

The blunette arched his brow, his eyes flickered with intentions to taunt and to challenge. "Oh, and why is that?"

"Because it happened," simply the redhead answered – and the blush returned to Tetsuya's cheeks once more. He grinned, "And despite everything, it's a waste to keep it to ourselves and forget. Memories are meant to be shared, right Tetsuya?"

The blunette ignored him afterwards, either too occupied with his own thoughts or trying to calm his spirits down. Perhaps, both.

Secretly, the redhead threw him a grieved glance, one that the blunette missed to witness because he was talking to Sakura.

Maybe he was more than paranoid.

"Hey Tetsuya, what happened if one day you wouldn't recognise me as your husband?" he dared himself to wonder aloud.

The blunette responded the troubled look with a scared one. Slowly, he swallowed and his eyes lowered until he fully avoided the tender focus Seijuurou was giving him.

"W-What in the world are you talking about?" The taller male sighed, and he shook his head in return. Instead, he grabbed the other's hands, holding the cold ones into a tight grasp. He shuddered, shouldering the sudden weight weighing on his shoulders; the concerns, he meant.

If Tetsuya was clueless, then why were his hands cowering?

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Short because I'm busy. Short because the next one is long. Short because I'm tired. Hey, appreciate my update! The next one is coming within this week, perhaps.**

 **X for love, O for hate.**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	13. Day Twelve (Wednesday)

**CREDITS :**

 **victorikki123**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Gly**

 **Caithlinn13**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Akakuro Shipper**

 **Iza Seitsuna**

 **Animaddict**

 **Yuna Seijuurou**

 **fuyuzora's**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **XienRue**

 **LadyYuraa**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Guest**

 **Claire Aozora**

 **miso-misi**

 **Note : Thaaaaanks! *gobbles Xs***

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY TWELVE**

 **Wednesday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _Suddenly I grasped what was happening- they were all trying to save me._

 _I never thought I was worth saving."_

― _Albert Borris, Crash Into Me_

* * *

Tetsuya had been dreaming a lot lately. That night was like any other as well. His dreams weren't those kinds of strange ones; not Wonderland-like, not fantasy. In fact, they were clear memories of the past hung like albums on strings, arranged in a perfect straight line. Pictures by pictures, clipped in between the plastic laundry pegs, and swayed about smoothly. And there was he – at least, this one was the only strange thing he found out in the dream, Tetsuya was watching himself. Precisely yet, he was watching his own self looking through all those hanging pictures, but the whole surroundings a blinding white. The real him smiled in amusement, deep inside nostalgia consuming his whole self.

There was one; he was merely five years old – his cheeks twice as cherubic as his current ones, and scarlet like candy apples; his short, still-growing tufts bluer than blue; and was hiding in between his mother's long legs. Right, it was the first day of his kindergarten life. A nightmare for him and few more children, especially to the poor shy ones. The little Tetsuya almost cried, holding back tiny rivulets from spilling. His current being watched the dream version just stared at the image. Somehow, the longer he stared, the clearer the memory was showing in front of the imaginary self like a plain, white screen. It was when his nimble fingers, the real Tetsuya noticed, which had been quivering slightly for reasons unbeknownst came in contact against the shiny surface – like the time frame suddenly decreased to a full halt – the photo slowly and slowly disappeared into thin air. The memories, unfortunately, followed after.

The real Tetsuya panicked. And suddenly, he was falling. As if a dark abyss inviting him below, he was drowned into the thickening black fog. Its shadows inviting, pulling, wrapping like tendrils around his legs and he was suffocating, unable to breath. . .

Cerulean orbs jarred open, hasty and affright from the shock – was he panting? He wasn't quite sure. The daunt experience he had before turned into confusion. But in front of him, Seijuurou gave him a cold stare. A pair of mismatched eyes widened twice as large as his and full of the familiar hopeless concern. The blunette shuddered away, fearing the latter would again pry on this matter. Well, he was always too late though.

Seijuurou, alas, breathed out the long-expected questions afterwards. "Tetsuya, what happened? A-Are you okay?" His voice tightened just as his voice did. The blunette glimpsed his Adam's apple bobbed to express his anxiety.

Instead of answering, he tossed a full hundred and eighty degrees so that his back was facing the redhead in lieu of the opposite. He closed his eyes back, wishing the least bit of prayer that his falsity would work. But Seijuurou was no fool. He knew better; he knew Tetsuya. Neither feigning ignorance, he pursued to push the blunette over the edge, his fingers spread warmth against his back and then placing pressure against his skin. Sejuurou whispered one more time, tentatively and painfully slow; "Tetsuya. Tell me, please. . ."

"No. . ." he finally responded, but his tone carried a heavy weight to it – not at all of what he was planning to give out. The blunette cleared his throat, but along the way, found himself choking. "I'm fine, Sei."

"I won't accept that kind of answer! There's something you're not telling me –"

"And my secrets are my rights to keep," Tetsuya interfered, snarling before he puffed out a depressed air. "Look, Sei, let's forget about all of these for a while. I mean, we're not at home right now. We have a child to take care. Remember that!" clutching Seijuurou's wrist rougher than he had intended before releasing it twice as harsh. He leapt from the king-sized luxury, luring him out from the tension building up in the spice and his mind was giving out warnings. The pressure was too heavy till his head couldn't handle such burden without having a headache. The blunette slipped out, into the living space the grand room was giving them. It was silent even when the telly was switched on, it seemed like someone had turned the volume low – who would watch TV in such an ungodly hour, Tetsuya wasn't even sure. On the long settee, its cushions plush and surprisingly very comfortable, sprawled a pink-haired child still sleepy from hours of flight. Not to mention, the awful delay that had made them stuck for hours in the waiting hall.

They had reached Manila safely, but in the wee hours to late midnight. By then, Sakura was soundly asleep. She was tucked in the redhead's jacket before landing right to the mellow couch. Tetsuya fondled with the lengthy tresses for a moment before noticing a new presence behind.

"I'm not repeating what I said just then," he growled vaguely but softened next. He peered from the corner of his eye, a dejected look coming from the redhead and he opened his mouth to speak again; "And there's no need for you to apologize as well."

He clicked his tongue. "I just wanted to say something."

"Then, say something. . . cheerful. . . Like, like –"

"Theme parks then?"

The blunette arched one brow. "Theme parks, what about it?"

"Are there any theme parks around here?" asked Seijuurou out of sheer curiosity. Or there was a certain degree of shyness surrounding his aura, and Tetsuya assumed that being a man with a high position – asking for children's theme park was a bit too much for him.

He found his lips lifted into a genuine smile. Tetsuya laughed, amused.

"I'm just asking. . ."

"I didn't say anything, Sei-kun." A small grin present on his face. "Besides, you said that a senior of yours would be our tour guide for today."

The redhead snorted at his choice of words, different shaded pools rolling in light mockery. "Not _my_ senior, he's _ours_."

"Ours?"

"Surely you don't forget about Chihiro, right?"

A brief moment passed, having the blunette tight-lipped and dwelling into the core of his high school memories. Then, he remembered the bright-haired latter. An oddball like him too. But meeting him during the high school tournament was the least merry introduction he had ever received. After the boiling jealousy he had felt last time. Scorning, he nodded slightly to show the redhead that he did remember – and he was annoyed. "Mayuzumi-senpai. . ." He called out the name tentatively, whilst dark shadows seemed to emit from his very aura.

Still, the action did not affect Seijuurou the slightest. He snorted, "Oh come on, you two were close when he was your senior in diploma."

"Yeah. . . But I could see that he was really. . . close to you," the blunette lowered his head.

In fact, Seijuurou thought of the otherwise. Being the one with higher observant skills, he actually took heed of how Chihiro was starting to get fond over the little blunette. And that was how they became friends, in fact, not just because the two bore the similar invisibility somehow. The redhead began to see the obvious especially when he was with them both. Whilst they would be chatting merrily, he was always the third wheel somehow.

So, Tetsuya's words sounded ironic to his ears. He wanted to smirk, but that would cause the shorter lad had his temper rise again. Instead, he kept his tongue in halt as he was about to retort back a reply. "He'll be coming around eleven. How about we take a shower first – _Kami_ , I really do need a deodorant."

He left the blunette to tend to the child afterwards – before though, he heard the other muttered "Sei do smells a lot. . ." to himself – whilst he minded his own preparation as well. Well, to be honest, he needed a clear head for a moment.

Mayuzumi Chihiro arrived twenty minutes late to the grand hotel they were staying. He looked slightly different from when the blunette last talked to him around five years ago – a few months before moving as a temporary resident in Philippines. His light-coloured hair was a tad longer amd he was sure taller than before. Yet the similar tinge of an outcast was what the Akashi duo elicited from, and those defiant, small eyes. The blunette smiled softly upon his senior, and they both bowed in respect. Later, Chihiro turned to the other one and bowed as well, until he noticed a certain girl with her bright taffy tresses pulled into mid pigtails, wearing a garment of what looked like a sailor uniform but still sticking with her white ballet shoes. The ivory-haired man pulled a baffled look; "Did you two kidnap a child or something?"

Tetsuya choked, "Of course, not! She's Momoi-san's and Aomine-kun's daughter."

His lips pulled into a taut frown, recollecting bits and pieces of the memory from his university years. "Ah. . . You mean that tanned friend of yours you introduced me before. . ." The latter was impressed. Perhaps, he was thinking of how a man like Daiki could raise a child – little did he know that the Akashi couple were the ones acting as her godparent.

Aomine Sakura went out from her hiding territory. Before, she was gripping the hems of Seijuurou's Armani Exchange shirt hard – the redhead swore even an expensive material could be torn from a grasp like that – now she introduced herself in front of the man she deemed as her godparents' friend and attempted a playful curtsy instead. The three of them were quite amused – this girl was obsessed with Disney after all.

But as soon as they thought she was being polite and all, the child broke out from her shy act and exclaimed out loud. Like a sudden burst of energy oozing out, she jumped and leapt excitedly as the thought of food entered her mind of simplicity. "Ooh, ooh, _chichiue_ , _otou-san_ – let's eat, let's eat, let's eat!"

Tetsuya sighed. "You're still Aomine-kun's child, aren't you Sakura-chan?"

"With a little resemblance of Ryouta's bubbliness though," the redhead chuckled. The blunette could only laugh and nodded silently.

Now, here is a fact about Manila. The place was crowded. It's brimming with foreigners and locals alike, it's overpopulated. There was a reason for Manila to be overcrowded because it was a metropolitan. And metropolitans weren't supposed to be ghost towns. Cities like Manila consisted of thousands of citizens painting the whole town in vibrant noises – and traffic. People in cars, people in _jeepneys_ , people strolling with their gaps closer. Pushing, pushing and more pushing.

Apparently, a person like Tetsuya wasn't one fond of thronged streets unlike a certain girl trailing in front of him. Whilst Sakura was having ease passing through others, slipping through little gaps and corners like fluid; he, on the other hand, had to squeeze his body closer to the redhead in order to let others passed through. Maybe he was being invisible right now, he wasn't so sure. Tetsuya just noticed that others didn't really notice him quite well, in contrary with a really remarkable and shining daughter-in-care that they had. Not that Seijuurou was displeased by the fact that Tetsuya was half-embracing him. But he was trying his best to hide his embarrassment away, in fear that the blunette would found out how fast his heart throbbing in his chest. The only way he was able to hide his poor, trembling emotions from revealing themselves was to cover his sweaty face with one of his palms, his cheeks obviously warm. He was a tad glad the little girl wasn't in the mood of her sneaky peeks, lest she'd be pointing out every tiny detail about their expressions. Damn those snarky genes.

He heaved out a relatively heavy sigh, noticing the heavy human traffic was causing him to sweat twice than he had ever been in basketball games. The redhead just prayed a gratitude for fate letting him wore something colder just before, and Tetsuya too – perhaps he was suffering a bit more because he was squeezing between the patches of people and Seijuurou's chest against his right cheek. The blunette shifted uncomfortably.

They were in _Binondo_ – the oldest Chinatown in the world, as they would say. Why Chihiro would brought them here; well, to get food perhaps. Since morning, Sakura had been wailing about _dim sum_ somehow, and well. . . the redhead was hoping she wouldn't mistook Philippines as China. But the change of view was kind of nice, not that it had gotten less jam-packed. The road was narrower than the main one, yet brighter colours splashed the scenery in all shades of red and gold, marking prosperity and wealth to the streets. Scarlet silk ribbons hung against poles, with unlit lanterns hung and swayed about in strings.

" _Otou-san_ , look! Look, look, look!" Sakura pointed toward the nearest shop, a mere five metres away. The vendor, a local Philippine man, seemed to be spreading out red boxes the size of an average shoe box to his customers. Whatever it was, Seijuurou assumed it was candy – and it was brimming with other visitors.

He sighed. "Do you want one?"

The cerise-haired girl nodded brightly, her face beaming with an even larger smile.

Seijuurou had to wait approximately twenty minutes to have his own box later on. When he returned, he felt stiffly cold despite the hot weather and mismatched eyes landed upon two people, not three. The redhead breathed out an audible gasp – loud that the person next to him almost jumped from the sudden surprise. "T-Tetsuya, where is he?"

"Oh. . . Now that you mentioned him. . ." Chihiro masked the fright plastered upon Seijuurou's visage whilst the little girl, who celebrated her snack – it was rice cakes they called _tikoy_ here – just a brief ten seconds had twice the fear shone in her clear navy blue eyes.

"Is it. . . Is it my fault?" she gasped out a cry.

"Of course, not. . . Your _chichiue_ might just be wandering somewhere. . . That's all," the redhead bit his tongue. He lied. To a child. What else can he do when he was panicking deep inside?

There was a certain past screening in his mind. He'd been lost before. In the middle of the night. Out cold, when he should've returned home. But he didn't. And Tetsuya was uncertain during that moment. Seijuurou might be able to find excuse at that moment, but what about now when everything about Tetsuya was clear?

"Chihiro, can you take Sakura back to the hotel?" he gulped, "I'll find him myself."

"Bu –"

"Please!" The red-haired male almost yelled but he held back, in fear not to scare the child. "Just do what I say. . ."

For a moment, the ivory-haired male looked as if he was about to retort back. Instead, he bit his lower lip and nodded, then tugged the little child. "Hey Sakura, let's go back. . ."

Sakura obeyed, albeit unwillingly as she stared forlornly toward the crimson-coloured box, shaking its contents once in a while. Guilt. That was what her petite face masked. It wasn't deserving for a child to carry the fault at all, but she let herself get eaten away by those awful thoughts. The older male noticed the scrunched eyebrows and the glossy blue eyes, he halted his footsteps once he estimated the distance between Seijuurou and them two was far ahead. He turned to convey a small smile to her.

"Do you want to go somewhere fun instead?"

The girl was silent for a while, torn between getting consumed with more guilt or to forget about the sad, sad things for a while. She chose the latter. ". . . Where?" asked Sakura, shyly.

"Ever been to a theme park?"

Her eyes became twice as large, finally the tinge of grey obvious in the sea of blue shades of her eyes. The girl flailed her arms, and beamed – her spirits rose back to normal and whatever hope she had given to her trustable _otou-san_.

According to the blunette, getting lost in a fluid-like swarm felt like mere seconds spent inside a toilet. One second, he was close to the redhead. In the blink of an eye, his fingers were grasping nothing but ionised air and he released his puff of air that rose amidst the heaty temperature. Tetsuya blinked again. The sight of the other three long gone from his azure orbs, and he reluctantly shifted forward but was pushed by a man hastily bringing out large crates propped against his strong shoulder. The blunette sashayed away to a corner. He breathed, _it's no big deal_. But he was frozen to his feet, afraid.

What was the first thing you have to do when you get lost? Right, he was an adult – _Kami!_ He had his own cellphone. Tetsuya sighed, his hands searching for his pockets only to be looking for the non-existent phone.

Why would he forget such a simple necessity?

Oh wait, of course. . . That. The blunette painfully reminded himself.

What time was it? The total duration he spent standing there felt like running water; too swift and fast – it refused to stop. Perhaps it was getting late. He wasn't sure. He's just standing, and staring, and wondering what to do.

How pitiful can he be?

Tetsuya was afraid. He's clueless. He can't speak the mother tongue here. His English was as broken as a machine with loose screws. He's helpless as Hell.

Oh.

Now, he's walking. Just walking aimlessly. The blunette couldn't care less about the shoves and nudges and pushes, sometimes harsher than a wrestling fighter. He was tired mentally, his memory connecting the pieces of events – what's happening, what's happening, _what happened_?

The sunlight had lowered to the west.

How fast the time passed – would it be quick if he was to die one day?

Regardless, his thoughts led him to a church – still in Chinatown, perhaps? He wasn't quite sure. But there was a church, and he deemed it was nice to wait there. Wait for who – he's trying to recollect – no, no, no. . . He was getting too tired.

Have you ever felt that headache? That pain when you tried to remember some details. They're tiny, but they're important to you. Yet, the occasions were blurred images to your mind no matter how much you focused. And the more you focused, the painful it gets, the harder you'll be able to remember it.

Until that moment your head throbbed too much, yet the ego inside you deemed to search for it. To collect the pieces and connect them like puzzles, even when your brain cells yelled you to stop but you refused to – and what's the consequences? Pain, pain, pain.

Confusion.

Tetsuya wasn't feeling nauseous at the slightest bit.

He was just confused. Heck, he was too confused he was panicking the first twenty minutes and another ten minutes prior from now. The blunette cursed himself.

Why was he forgetting things so easily? The only image constantly flashing in his eyes were a being of red; of crimson tufts and a bloody red shade for an eye colour. They were memories of the past, that was the only thing he recognised apparently.

A minute ago, the images were imaginary. It was just a display of what was in his mind. Then next, Tetsuya blinked, the real redhead appeared in front of him. Somehow, it was like a miracle. Yet, the redhead looked as if he was about to burst in tears, but he didn't. They called it a man's ego to not cry.

Only that. . . Seijuurou flung himself to Tetsuya, his arms circled the waist and pulled him into a tight embrace. He yelled, his voice tight with concern. "Where did you go? You've been missing for three hours?"

"I. . . I don't know. . ." he muttered, red-faced and nervous. _Please, please, please, please don't find out._

Seijuurou gazed upon his eyes, yet his own mismatched orbs looked far too distant than to just linger his eyesight upon his. Then, he made a sudden movement; shifting and continued to hug him again and suddenly, he just groaned.

"Tetsuya. . . why can't you tell me?"

The blunette stayed silent, but he made a motion forward – tiptoed – and kissed the taller lad's forehead. He stroked Seijuurou's cheek softly. "Because I love you, even when you didn't." He slid himself away from the embrace and groaned. "Let's go back. . ." He shook his head and turned his back to face the redhead.

Seijuurou acted as if he was calm throughout the journey. Yet the respond was still ringing in his ears, even when they returned back to the hotel.

And guilt; guilt was what he deserved.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : A kiss on the forehead means protection. Lol. It's a hidden meaning, huehuehuehue.**

 **I still am grateful for Cheshire Shironeko for helping me throughout the whole storyline of this vacation thingy! She's been giving me great inspiration, and I'll dedicate this chapter for her!**

 **Happy CNY to the Chinese! I have ang pao too~ Yeeeah~!**

 **X for love, O for hate.**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	14. EXTRA I

**CREDITS :**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **Iza Seitsuna**

 **HeteroChromium**

 **XienRue**

 **Claerine**

 **thepockywhowrites**

 **Cheshire SN**

 **Gly**

 **Scynthia Deathscythe**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Me**

 **amaiyuki309**

 **Peculiar-Pizza-Mucher**

 **Elle**

 **NOTE : I noticed Noah Earl Graves kept on reviewing. I feel touched and honoured for that. So let me dedicate this chapter to you as my thanks!**

 **And please, there's an important notification at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **Extra**

 **Continuation on Day Twelve**

 **.**

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" _Oh no. Don't smile. You'll kill me. I stop breathing when you smile."_

― _Tessa Dare, A Lady of Persuasion_

* * *

"Vacations are supposed to be fun."

The redhead grumbled along the way they returned to the hotel. It was so much faster to hire any cabs or ride the trains but the two of them preferred walking. Simply they just wanted to because walking is soothing and a piece of calmness is what they needed right now. Today was already hectic enough but somehow a certain blunette gained strength to roam a bit more. He tugged the hems of Seijuurou's sleeves, flashing a genuine smile for the first; since last time, it seemed force and awkward.

"Let's go somewhere, then."

He shuffled closer to the redhead, linking their arms together – it rose the panic inside the redhead. God only knows how hard his heart's beating. It's like a drum, like a rolling beat for Leonardo DiCaprio waiting to get his Oscar. For a moment, he was simply closing his eyes and muttered gasps of torrid air. When his eyes shifted downwards to see the azure eyes returning back the gaze, he looked away, his cheeks burnt tenfold. Where was the panic just now? Nowhere, just that it was replaced by a sheer nervousness that made him acted like a tongue-tied fool.

Wait, he was a tongue-tied fool.

"Where. . .?" He finally responded, a voice wavering like a wilted leaf on a windy day. He waited for an answer, but all that the redhead received was a wandering – thoughtful – look and a shrug.

To be honest, he wanted to go somewhere. Really, he did. He wanted to pull the blunette past the endless train of bustling citizens and brought him to a place serene and clear from the noise. All he wanted to do was to gaze upon the blue shone in the eyes.

Even so, the blunette looked exhausted as if he had been doing a ten kilometres marathon. He felt the grip against the fabric tightened and his breathe exhaling throughout his parted lips heavier on each step they took.

Seijuurou stopped abruptly, that the blunette almost bumped against him if not for him to realise this sooner. The shorter male could only gape when Seijuurou crouched below, his arms offered a slight width to indicate a render for none other than a piggy back ride. Tetsuya blushed a crimson streak across his cheeks, reluctant and stuttering.

"Wh-what are you –"

"Just do it, Tetsuya," the redhead winked, grinning Cheshire-like toward Tetsuya.

He inched closer, albeit slow and hesitant and torn between retreating or giving in. The blunette blinked, and sooner or later he found his arms linked around the redhead's neck and his legs encircled by the strong arms.

Another shocking this was when Seijuurou began to hum. He never hummed before, let alone sing. But the song was a draggy one, the tone albeit childish but dreamy – and it served the purpose of lulling one to sleep, which Tetsuya figured out his intention. Maybe he noticed the display of fatigue previously, a reason for the sudden halt before. Unnoticed by the red-haired male, Tetsuya flashed his enthusiastic smile.

"Thanks. . ." he breathed before the blue glimmered in his eyes faded.

Seijuurou took his hand, alabaster white and icy cold, and kissed the surface of his palm. Around Manila, he carried the other one despite the stares and murmurs coming from others. But he paid no heed. Carrying Tetsuya was like showing that he was his.

Tetsuya wasn't a lover.

He was fulfilment. He was contentment.

Looking up in the clear skies, sunlight peeking its last hours before returning to the horizon, that he was sure Tetsuya and he was never meant to be break upon.

"I'm sorry," he said emptily to the skies, to the unheard ears of his sleeping lover.

His lover, that was certain.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Hey guys, how are you all doing?**

 **Well, I've been really. . . stressed out. Busy with SPM (my national high school exam) and trying to get as many certificates I could. I really tried my best to find time finishing this but this one has still another twenty chapters to go, and I'm trying to write long chapters to impress you guys.**

 **But time won't allow me.**

 **I can't focus on many things. Not my studies, writing, photography and sports life at the same time. With all due respect, I hope you are fine if I say that I won't update until the end of December.**

 **I know this is saddening, but I hope you guys won't be too demanding or mad at me. I hope you all respect my decision.**

 **X for love, o for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	15. Day Thirteen (Thursday)

**Credits :**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **AyakiStory**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Animaddict**

 **Lady Desdemona Hawkings**

 **Elle**

 **Claerine**

 **Gly**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **XienRue**

 **amaiyuki309**

 **hisako**

 **Scynthia Deathscythe**

 **SSJ Mirai Gohan**

 **Axile 'Vion' Raiz**

 **QyuYi**

 **21p**

 **Guest**

 **aoblue**

 **Note : So I have time. . .**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY THIRTEEN**

 **Thursday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _How do you know when it's over?"  
"Maybe when you feel more in love with your memories than with the person standing in front of you."  
― __Gunnar Ardelius_ _,_ _I Need You More Than I Love You and I Love You to Bits_

* * *

Tetsuya stared, for a long range of duration, toward the Fujifilm polaroid camera. It's strawberry red in colour, the blunette knew what was his senior's intention ― he rolled his eyes despite the small smile drawn on his smooth contours. _How cunning_ , his thoughts drawled. Slender digits caressed the surface oh-so-gently as if it might break any moment, and he placed the device with full caution inside its small clothed bag.

So, he'd taken a few photos just as recently as he had received the gift. The polaroid films had became another ― harmless ― secret from Seijuurou. He'd taken snippets of his husband from afar, when the redhead was too busy taking care of Sakura or when he was sleeping last night. Though mostly, it was always the adorable moments when the redhead was in slumber. The air was different, the mood altered and everything seemed so light in the morning. At least, he seemed much honest than had he ever been in the waking reality. Tetsuya smiled at the photo he had captured up close. Who knew that he could be a master of photography as well? Perfectly measured angles and clear focus and all those kind of things photographers took in consideration.

Anyway, the blunette didn't bother to know that.

He was very well aware of what purposes the polaroid served for. As if there was a telepathic link between the two invisible people ― that, or Sakura just might have told him about what she had known ― Chihiro seemed to decipher the problems written on the creases on his expression.

It was after dinner, his former senior confronted him out of nowhere and gave him a small packaging. Tetsuya once blinked, gawked awkwardly toward the sudden present and returned a similar look toward a stoic, monochromic eyes. "Use it wisely," he'd said and went to bid a farewell toward Sakura, who he had formed a camaraderie with. There wasn't any farther explanation afterwards.

He wasn't even sure if he's using the device wisely.

"Tetsuya, are you listening?"

Oh. He'd been spacing out for too long. The blunette blushed furiously, having his quirky act caught by none other than his husband. Seijuurou flashed his multi-coloured eyes straight toward his own pallid blue, and smirked in mischief. "What are you thinking about, hn?" he chuckled, "I hope I'm in whatever you're thinking." The redhead flashed a wink and Tetsuya threshed his arms at his torso, lightly and playfully with his eyes jeering an impish glare.

"Too bad it isn't that way," the blunette responded the flames with a gasoline of his own, a comeback against the arrogant statement.

Seijuurou sneered, "Oh, are we playing that game now?"

"Maybe."

Seijuurou closed the distance between them, inching closer and closer until a whisper was a blow on the cheek. "I could make you think about me," he added with a purr, "And only me."

But his intentions to weaken the other failed. Unfazed, Tetsuya only added the fire with more fuel as he pecked the other's lips and sashayed farther from the redhead, who became nothing more than a crimson fruit within seconds. The blunette smirked.

Fortunately, he had hidden the polaroid right under his pillow when he was awoken from his reverie. The thing should've been safe from unnecessary questions least, for now. Only _Kami_ knows how persistent the redhead was once he was curious.

* * *

Again, another day at the airport. It was somehow their intention to try out an adventurous vacation, instead of a decent one. Unbeknownst to many, the redhead had his own secret pleasure too ― one includes backpacking and another includes the sparkle in someone's pallid blue eyes.

He haven't seen it for a while now. It was back then when they were junior high, the first time he saw it, something struck deeper in his chest and he was in awe. As if the two pools were, instead, a clear mirror reflecting the stars littering against a canvas of midnight.

He was watching them. The azure contrasting every bit of lights flashing against, darting toward each direction and the gaze brought a cursive on the lips each time it landed against a pleasing scene. Tetsuya was one easily amused after all, and he was Seijuurou's own muses to be exact.

Oh, how badly did he wanted to capture the moment right now. Too bad the redhead didn't have a camera instead. Instead, he took out his phone and flashed a photo of the blunette.

Tetsuya flinched. "Sei ― Hey!" he blushed, laughing, "You got me!"

"I can't help it," the redhead mused, smiling against the sight in front of him. "You looked. . . splendid after all. . ."

For once, he saw the light faded as the blunette's eyes widened. The heat spread like a wildfire against his alabaster white skin. He lowered his gaze.

"Eh, I want a picture too!" Sakura burst out, her aura oozing bubbliness.

"Now doesn't seemed like a good place to take a nice photo, Sacchan," said Chihiro. "Let's take it once we're in Davao, okay?"

"Is Davao far? Why are we riding airplane again?" the child pouted, unsatisfied.

"Well, it'll took days to go there from a boat. Don't you like airplanes, Sacchan?"

"Mommy and Daddy always ride airplanes without me," the child sanguinely frowned, "And they took a long, long, long" ― Sakura widened her arms to show the length ― ". . . Time before they came home."

The blunette reached the little girl and hugged her close. "Sakura-chan, you'll always have _otou-san_ and _chichiue_."

"Yeah, that's why Sakura-chan isn't so sad!" She beamed.

 _We_ _could really be a perfect family,_ Tetsuya deepened his thoughts. He stole a glimpse toward his spouse but reverted back to the ground. He frowned, _If only. . . If only we were back to when we used to be so intimate._

Because lovers aren't supposed to be shy toward each other. Because lovers should stick close and not create boundaries against each others' spaces. Because lovers should be honest, not layering the bubble space with lies, lies and more lies. Because lovers should love each other. Because lovers should be more than two sweethearts. Because lovers should be connected.

And right now, are they even creating a connection other than it was for none other but their foster daughter? Should they have been telling their feelings out ― heck, scream to the top of their lungs about their secrets ― holding each other wouldn't be so painful. It felt like re-opening the old wounds, felt like he was bathing in the blood of a past war, felt like he was murdering his feelings once again.

Tetsuya clenched the polaroid buried deep inside his backpack lying against his thighs.

* * *

It's odd.

Their relationship had this odd borderline. Sometimes, it was there. Sometimes, it faded. Sometimes, it was a strong, metallic wall. Sometimes, it was weak as one push. And Seijuurou couldn't figure out the differences because the blunette was a natural in being quiet. They sat in the taxi, his hands itching to touch the palish, cool skin but he kept a close distance ― out of respect, who knew. His throat urged a conversation but his brain was reeling with multiple choices. Like, what should he talk about? Basketball? That was ages ago. The divorcement? No, that was too tense to be brought up in times of joie de vivre. So, the taller one sealed his lips. Occasionally, he glanced toward the tufts of blue whilst he watched the city outside.

Sometimes, they were tense. Sometimes, they were calm.

Who knew relationships were never that simple after all. . .

Alas, the two were left alone once more. By means, Chihiro said he wanted to _borrow_ Sakura out ― somehow, he had become attached to the sweet companion of a little girl ― and fled to leave the two to mend their inner problems.

It wasn't the fact that Chihiro had been stalking them or forcing the child to spout out all the information she knew. But it had been obvious, especially when he could feel the air too tight to even breath and unsettling. He really didn't want the child to experience the same mood as he felt. So, away he brought Sakura and left the two alone to brood with their conflict.

 _I wonder if they'd actually talk about it_ , the former senior shrugged, _Probably, they'll be too dense to even speak a single word. I doubt they'll solve out their conflict._

He sighed, "You know, Sacchan. . . Your guardian parents can be dumb too sometimes."

"Hn? Hey, don't call them dumb! Mommy said that's a bad word!"

Chihiro laughed, "No, no. . . Uncle didn't mean it in a bad way," he swallowed, "Well, I mean it in a different way."

 _They're just dishonest, that's why. . ._

* * *

And true to the magnificent Chihiro's words, they're just walking around the streets ― face forward ― not a word, not a problem solved. They're searching for a place to eat actually, but for now, they're just walking aimlessly. Seijuurou watched the skies darkened and breathed out a heavy sigh. They reached to a silent corner of the street, and the blunette grumbled in discomfort.

Perhaps, being just the two of them was not indeed a very good idea at the moment. He noticed the shorter male shifted as their shoulders touched briefly or when his slender fingers brushed against his, and he tried his very best to create gaps after gaps albeit not an obvious borderline.

Again, tonight, he crossed the unpleasant boundary; a strong, hard wall filled with important secrets.

The Akashi heir sighed.

"Tell me, Tetsuya. . . Are you happy?"

The blunette jumped at the question but didn't dare to ask its reasons. He only lowered his head, his voice almost inaudible. "I'm not sure." He huffed, "I guess it felt weird."

"Weird. . .?"

"Maybe we should slow down after all. . ."

"You think so?"

Seijuurou tried to touch his hand briefly but the shorter lad pulled away in haste, panic rose in the pallid blue eyes that the sparkles dimmed out completely. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes. . ." ― he said louder ― "I think. . . I think we're forcing our feelings. I guess, at least. . . It looks that way."

"You see it that way, huh. . ."

There was a glint of disappointment in the redhead's tone, stabbing Tetsuya with an immense of guilt. "I mean ―"

"It's fine. . . It's my fault anyway," Seijuurou clasped his eyes with both hands, trying his best to cover the anxiety that poured down in tears. Inside, he felt bitter and nasty and heavy and confused and all sorts of negativity swirled inside like a batter. "I've done enough to hurt you. I've abandoned you for a year in high school and now I'm cheating on you. . . Tetsuya, why are you ― _Kami_ , why are you still with me?"

He closed his eyes, lowered his body to a certain angle to hide the fact that he was in a downpour of all feelings that buried deep inside of him. Never had the blunette expected for Seijuurou to have a strong anxiety like that. Then again, when had this man been so shallow?

Tetsuya was in loss of either comforting him or leaving him some space. Because he was the source of the tears, and he, too, was fighting against his own. He crouched to caress the smooth contours of Seijuurou's strong jaw. Long fingers smoothed against the warm and wet visage, he traces line against every parts and he wiped the droplets away.

"It doesn't suit you when you cry," the shorter male tipped to match his height and kissed his cheek. "Sei, relationships aren't meant to be perfect. A pair of lovers wouldn't experience true love if they wouldn't know each others' strength and flaws. There's no such thing as an idealistic pair. There's only reality, and reality says that we're meant to be hurt as well as experiencing pleasure. We'll take it slowly, Sei, one step at a time."

 _When we reached the top together, I'm sure, we'll be two hearts as one again. . ._

Odd. . .

It was odd.

Along the process, he knew that Tetsuya had gained his personal strength. He experienced the pain before. A pair of crimson and topaz eyes met the pallid blue. Gone was the plead in his eyes, instead there was only determination and strength.

"I guess you're my strength, Tetsuya. . ."

But one with a submissive soul could never be permanently strong. And Tetsuya broke into tears, smiling as he watched the other in realisation. He embraced the redhead, leaning his head against the strong chest, savouring the moment of what he could deemed it as his achievement. The words he missed hearing, the compliments that ceased to exist by now.

Tetsuya knew he needed no polaroid to remember such moment in his life. At that exact moment, his memories were enough to contain the joy he was keeping in heart.

"Let's take a picture next time, you sweet weirdo."

Seijuurou only smirked as a response.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Oh hey guys, I have a two week holidays! Yippee! I guess I'm free for a meanwhile and the people I beta doesn't really have requests for now. So, yeah! I'm not putting this on hiatus first. Eheheheheh!**

 **Listening to EDEN's XO and Fumes while writing this. That's why it gets so emotional in the end. Because the song's emotional too. Bahahah!**

 **X for love O for hate! Any suggestions about Philippines, feel free to write it down in review box!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	16. Day Fourteen (Friday)

**Credits :**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **RhayisRhay**

 **aoblue**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **Mizuumi Yoite**

 **PasserBy**

 **Akakuro babe**

 **13590anime**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Cheshire ShiroNeko**

 **InstaLuna**

 **fancyanide**

 **psycho-uchiha**

 **Aoi Haruka-hime**

 **Guest**

 **COCOBERRYNOT**

 **Note : My five years of passion and hard work, finally someone wants to translate my work! I'm so happy! Thanks SasuNari! This chapter's idea is generated by Cheshire SN by the way! She has been a great help since the beginning of the vacation part! And for those others who gave their suggestions too, thank you so much! I might add some of it here!**

 **Anyway, I seek help from all of you, my lovely readers. I've joined a video competition with my friends, and I need you all just to give it a like and share and tag your other friends in this link : www . facebook isenvironmentday / videos / 1086500321443058/ (erase the space)**

 **Your help will be appreciated! We aim for a thousand likes, actually! XD**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY FOURTEEN**

 **Friday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _But maybe you never really had someone, she thought now. Maybe, no matter how much you loved them, they could slip through your fingers like water, and there was nothing you could do about it."  
― __Cassandra Clare_ _,_ _City of Fallen Angels_

* * *

Was it a blunder or had it been purposely done for? Seijuurou had always thought that he had been the cause of an upbringing of a feeling of loss toward a certain someone. Never in his life would he thought that he experienced karma. A payback for all his sins that he had inflicted onto that particular person. It occurred so fast, that the redhead admitted ― no matter how much he had known, he was still unprepared for the worst to come.

It could be anytime. Even today, perhaps. That every moment was worth the memories, for they'd be at loss when it ticked by his mind. Any moment.

But still, Seijuurou wasn't a man worth of handling his intentions. No matter what, his entire being had always been so readable towards the certain person.

"Of all places. . . Why did you choose San Roque?"

Many reasons, to be honest. Sometimes, Seijuurou began to think if everything that happened around them had been such a rush lately. Crowded streets and narrow lanes and conversations upon conversation fitted together into a lovely bundle of chaotic mess, perturbing his desire for some moment of peace. He wasn't a fan of noisy places, partially due to his decent upbringing too. But mostly, because his companion was also known to be such a serene person, he had never bothered about it before. The serenity calmed him despite other circumstances.

Such were the beauty of Kuroko Tetsuya. His colours matched his soul, his eccentricities, his persona. They were the gentlest of blues, reminding the fiery Akashi of white sands and calming shores.

His mind had brought him to Palimbang itself, to the beach brimming with nothing but silence and the streaks of passionate shades of blue. It had always been his very favourite, and he felt the urge to capture the fact that Tetsuya blend well with the very place.

"Because this place reminds me very much of you," he admitted blatantly, his very eyes focusing deep into the azure ones. Tetsuya might have blushed, his cheeks a sprinkle of crimson and he laughed his typical airy laughter.

Briefly, his eyes had shone but faded ever so slightly, as if a thought might had made him so disturbed right when everything was beginning to fall into the right places.

Tetsuya remained silent. He tried smiling but lately, Seijuurou knew his problem had its occurrences quite as often by far.

So far, it was just an assumption. But a smart person such as the likes of Akashi Seijuurou did not need any confirmations just to get on the track of what was happening. He was very well aware that Tetsuya was standing at the very edge of his conflict, a push might lead to his downfall.

He wanted to talk about it.

But damn, Seijuurou knew the blunette was never be able to be ready.

To be honest, he wasn't either.

"When will you tell me?"

He said it, in hopes the blunette might had open up. But he saw, he observed, the falter in the blue eyes each time a relatable question was spoken, the way his shoulders flinched and the curl of his fists.

Seijuurou only wanted the cause, not the whole truth. He, of all, never wanted to hear a dear person choking the whole bad news within one conversation ― Oh, he knew he wasn't strong enough to handle the situation otherwise. But Tetsuya was the most stubborn. When his mind had set on something, the decision ― in spite of the conditions ― will always be permanent.

Softly, Tetsuya slid his fingers in his own hand. The sand tickled their feet that sunk deeper as they made their way to the shore, occasionally feeling trickling waters caressing their soles like a gentle lover. He made his way silently, guiding the redhead and slowly stroked the chiseled face. "We agreed yesterday, don't we? One step at a time, slowly and slowly. That when I'm ready, I'll tell you everything."

Seijuurou closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of being touched. He sighed, almost morbidly, as his arms circled their way around the smaller lad's waist. "But I won't be ready. . ."

The complain made the blunette giggled, causing confusion to be written all over the redhead's face. "Do you think that I'll be fully prepared, Sei?"

Such depth in his words, Seijuurou felt a tang of bitterness in his mouth and he swallowed unwillingly. The blue in his eyes remained unfazed, strong and passionate. "Allow me," Seijuurou breathed, and within moments, Tetsuya rose from his stance just to have himself by the strong arms of an Akashi. How long had he not felt the intoxicating body heat? How long had he forget the strong muscles carrying him bridal-styled?

That night, they made love but it was forlorn. It was sloppy. It was desperate. They clung more to each other, unable to let go because of the fear deep down. They missed each other, not just physically. Not like the first time they had sex on the first day of their deal. That was just plain sex, of actions and displays and merely raw of emotions. This time, it was everything opposite.

Emotions building up, promising words to fluttery touches to curious explores of the whole body. It wasn't heatful, rather they just wanted to experience the emotions that hadn't been in presence for years. They missed each other, the sounds they made ― the sounds Tetsuya made in bed. It rang something in the back of the redhead's mind, but he was obliged to listen as his hands and lips roamed and marked the smooth complexion of Tetsuya.

They took the whole night, simply because they wanted this to last unlike previously. That when morning came, all they could remember was their perfect night.

In and out, in and out, in and out. Slowly and slowly, increasing the speed with every ounce of energy he could muster ever so slightly. Erratic moans to screams of pure pleasure and the demand for more ― more of the kisses, more of the touches, more of the feeling of being filled. Yes, yes! Tetsuya missed such tremor.

This wasn't just sex, more than making love. This was about the memories, the lasting sensation of physical form of expressing love.

This was about gain and loss, and Seijuurou knew no matter how much he gained, it was bound to slip away.

Anytime, soon.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I can't afford long updates, ugh. I'm sorry there's not much action to the smut, it's more like a statement.** **B** **ecause I want to press more on the emotions than the physical form in the words.**

 **Shameless advertising, please go to the link below and support my video!**

 **Review? X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	17. Day Fifteen (Saturday)

**Credits :**

 **Fairytail.523**

 **13590anime**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Akakuro babe**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Gly**

 **LucasZorro**

 **Unexisted user**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Aoi Haruka-hime**

 **Guest**

 **emcee0103**

 **schko (Hahah yes it is a taboo but oh well /insert lenny face)**

 **A/N : You know I can't abandon my baby. But it's only a month before my real thing starting. /nervous breathing**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY FIFTEEN**

 **Saturday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _It was a mistake," you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you."  
― __David Levithan_ _,_ _The Lover's Dictionary_

* * *

She was leaving in another four hours.

Four. Freaking. Hours.

Who told her to leave early? Oh, right. Her damn assistant.

Now, all that Yui could do was to be seated in McDonalds, nothing more than a ten-percent-battery-life cellphone and a half-assed, watery coffee and wait till 2PM comes and swoop her ass to the comfort of an aeroplane ― arriving in 2PM. It was always too noisy in the airport, and she wasn't exactly a fan of screaming. Teenage girls and their hormonal desires of making out with celebrities gawking at the screen of their smartphones; screaming ― mothers with their sharp eyes throwing warns toward their own mischievous (sneaky bastards) children; screaming. Businessmen; screaming, or actually howling a bunch of profanities to their poor workers. College boys; loud and boisterous.

 _Kami_.

Can't they be quiet for even a second? Was it necessary to put their voice in the loudest volume just to speak to a dear friend who was situated at least half a metre from their own self?

It's not like Yui hated the concept of _screaming_ itself, the loudness ― the thunderous audibility of voices, brash and vexing and boisterous ― just reminded her of bad memories.

Really, really bad.

Not that she wanted to think about it now.

Perhaps, that was why she had always been seeking comfort to Akashi. He wasn't the most quiet person. He was charming, just to say, in his own ways. Reserved, calm if not a bit of perfectionist and well ― to the hormonal desire kind of thing, God-like complexion. Not that she ever cared about appearances.

But he seemed dedicated. Responsible. Someone who would cherish a person with all his might.

There was nothing else Yui thought that made her think she was the luckiest if not for meeting the redhead, and she got to know him better and better. About his school life, his family condition as well ― they shared and they bonded. But then, she also get to know a fact that made her ever felt so guilty. . .

Akashi was married.

Yeah, sure. It was marriage of the same sex, but marriage nevertheless. A connection of two people tied between vows and promises, bound between love and affection.

How ironic. . .

She had been doing something that had been the most execrable to her during the childhood. Was it a curse? Was it karma?

That maybe, even if she was right. . . She was never in a position to treat a father like that.

Was it a crime. . .? To almost slay a person who had been in the wrong? To save her mother from the agony she felt? To get rid of the slut that stole their little, perfect family?

Was she hyperventilating?

Was it tears that she felt on her cheeks. . . Why were they warm?

Guilt would always be, and had always been, a form of torture to her if not a curse bound to her forever. Living in the pit of sins, and forever, a sinful person she would remain.

Out of a sudden, she felt a tender touch to her shoulder. It was warm, a different kind of warm. The kind that made her fuzzy with a light feeling, the kind that took half the weight away. But despair was brought to her obsidian eyes, when she was looking to the cause of her guilt.

Right in front of her, Akashi Tetsuya stared at her with tender eyes. Those pure, pallid blue showing full concern. Those clear azure, eyes that blemished of little flaws, but oh dear, were they the kindest gaze that she had ever stared upon.

Yui found herself gulping, and she furiously and nervously wiped her tears away.

 _Go away._

The blunette crooked a small but genuine smile. "I think. . . I've seen you before. . ." a pause, "We talked before, don't we?"

 _Please._

"I. . . Uh. . ." Truly, she was at loss of words. Yui never wanted to be rude, but damn, this man was dangerous at the moment. She was truly aware that if this man was here, then Sei was bound to be here as well.

Just not at the current spot, fortunately.

 _Don't be nice to me._

"I don't know who you are," she spurted out the lie blatantly, but her hands shivered from the facade and she took a few steps backwards to indicate an escapade from this man.

Maybe, in another minute. Maybe, he would be here. . .

And Yui was tired of being the cause of everyone's troubles. . .

 _Leave me alone._

"No, I think we've talked before. . ."

" _Please_ ―"

"Yui?"

Ah.

That voice.

That fucking, familiar voice that she missed so much, and yet was the last thing she wanted to hear today.

Perhaps, due to the familiarity that Seijuurou had shown from the call of her name, she felt the kindness stirred. The blue eyes widened, and the smile disappeared as quick as he would have entered her sight just a few minutes before. Behind Seijuurou, she gazed at him long with concerned eyes ― he was too, however ― was a little girl who looked startled at the commotion.

Oh dear, she had been a tad of her age when she knew about her family's secrets too.

How much her heart shattered knowing this, how much pain she had to deal when she averted her gaze toward the clear blue that looked torn and betrayed.

"Sei. . . You know her ― Is she. . .?" The question wasn't averted to her. It was for Sei, who held a somewhat familiar expression.

She found the stutter to crawl on her voice as well, "Akashi-san, I. . . I'm sorry."

The tears found themselves flowing again, and Yui swore she never remembered looking back as she grabbed her suitcase and flee.

It was fated, after all. . .

Yamanaka Yui was a curse, and nothing more.

* * *

Secrets.

Tetsuya had his secrets.

Seijuurou, just as much as him.

So, he didn't felt exactly fair when his husband's secrets were much as painful as his own. And looking at her had never made him felt so conflicted. He felt the raw anger, building up a turmoil, letting the steam out. He puffed, breathing a much intense intake of air. He remembered wanting to scream but the fact that she wore an unexpected expression had made him to stop.

Just why?

If you were to steal someone's husband, you weren't supposed to look like you murder someone? At the very least, Tetsuya felt rather alive now, than have his soul slipping away in morose.

The fact that she looked guilty made him stop whatever profanities he planned on throwing toward her.

And all remained in the pit of his chest was a sense of betrayal.

He remembered their meeting, although brief, he had been answering her genuine question. He told her something.

She knew.

She knew he was Seijuurou's spouse.

She knew and she did nothing.

Tetsuya wanted nothing more than to confront her, but instead he threw the darkest glare he managed toward Seijuurou.

"Look, I'm sorry ―"

Perhaps, now, he wanted nothing more than to beat the heck out of Seijuurou.

But the blemished, frail Tetsuya had been none other than forgiving and tender and kind, if not soft-spoken and reserved. If that was what others saw in him, then he might as well acted out on it.

A huff escaped his lips, one and only thing he could actually do.

His fingers caressed Seijuurou's cheeks, "It's fine."

"No, it's not fine."

"Hey, hey, Sei. . . We agreed, remember?"

"But ―"

Sakura interrupted mid conversation, " _Otou-san_ , _Chichiue_ , what are you two doing?!"

The blunette patted her till she went quiet, but he still had his focus on his husband.

"No, Seijuurou. We are not going to discuss about this ever again," he paused briefly, breathing in a puff of humid air, the airport was indeed warm; not in a balmy way, "We're going home and that's it."

For a moment, he swore he noticed the defiant in the multi-coloured eyes. He sensed and assumed the inner conflict the redhead was currently fighting. But in the end, as most of the times he would do, Seijuurou gave up in the end.

"Fine."

He brought his hand wrapped around Tetsuya's. It caught the shorter male off guard but he threw a gentle simper at the blushing redhead, and took Sakura in his own as well.

Everything could be fine.

After all, he was bound to forget everything one day.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I'm just evil that way. Note that I'm updating at 1AM in the morning and I've only been typing this for an hour. I wanna write Philippines more, but goddamn they're only there for a few days.** **M** **aybe next time, dears! Thanks for the suggestions though!**

 **PS, I have full mark for English essay in Trials. Yesss I am happy! I have many improved grades (except Biology, it's fucking dropping!)**

 **X for love O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	18. Day Sixteen (Sunday)

**Reviews :**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **LucasZorro**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **00lalance00**

 **The Yaoi Matchmaker**

 **AddictedBxB**

 **Takucchi**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Lalalu**

 **Cecilia54**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **13590anime**

 **kirika o7**

 **Kat-Sakura**

 **Cheshire SN**

 **Sakamaki Hikaru**

 **Arandomchocoholi**

 **ninstra**

 **Guest**

 **Note : If I say I drop another bomb. . . What says you?**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY SIXTEEN**

 **Sunday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."  
― __Joe Klaas_ _,_ _Twelve Steps to Happiness_

* * *

There wasn't anything else to be said.

Of course, the guilt was always there. Eating him raw, swallowing him whole, spitting him out into a ball of shit he knew he deserved to be. But for now, Seijuurou knew that _she_ was feeling the same way too.

But in the end, it all came down to him. He, who had lost his feelings in the first place. He, who longed for something more. He, who made no effort on knitting his connection back together ― instead, woe another woman to his heart.

Just, what had been the cause of his own actions?

Was it mere stupidity?

An Akashi to be an idiot? Well, that was indeed a rare thing to be heard of. Yet, this time, Seijuurou would admit it loud and clear, he was a fool. Nothing more than a fool for both Yui and the blunette.

He could actually see it. Tetsuya's face had been so clear, so honest ― it was just up to him that he wanted to admit or not. It was the expression of loss and heartbroken and betrayal. Seized directly by his poor, kind soul and it wasn't Yui's fault that they met one random day, it wasn't Tetsuya's fault for being at the current spot, it wasn't fate's fault that they talked.

It will all be directed to him.

At night, Tetsuya had spoken few words as usual. He'd put Sakura to bed, like a doting godparent he was. The girl had been too exhausted to realise what was happening, nor did she question ― she wasn't curious to begin with. Tetsuya's expressions were clear to him, but not for a child like her.

"Did you have fun there?" Tetsuya stroked the cerise strands, enjoying the silkiness by the tip of his fingers.

Sakura giggled, "Oh yes! When _otou-san_ was searching for you, Chihiro-san brought me to a park instead. That's why Sakura-chan got this!" she waved a panda plush, small like the palm of Seijuurou's hand but she was still happy nonetheless.

"That's. . . very good to hear," the blunette smiled.

Seijuurou had been leaning against the wall, listening to the whole conversation. Picking up traces and hints from the tone the blunette was speaking.

Had he always spoke in hushed tones? It wasn't melodious, nor did Seijuurou wanted him to speak in melodies or whatsoever. But Tetsuya's was kind and warming, just a nice touch to Sakura's own feelings who had rarely experienced her own father talking to her in that way before. Everyone knew Aomine was busy, everyone including Aomine Sakura herself.

"Alright, I know you're very tired," he heard the blunette spoke again, and he heard the girl giggling from something he did, "Let's make some breakfast together tomorrow, okay?"

The girl squealed, "Sakura-chan get to make breakfast?!"

"Mhm."

"Oh great, can you make me some pancakes too," beamed the girl, "I always love your pancakes, _chichiue_."

The blunette was silent for a matter of seconds, and Seijuurou wondered why. ". . . Okay, Sacchan. But now, sleep you go. . ."

Seijuurou hinted that Tetsuya was about to leave judging from the creaks of the bed. Out of haste, he pretended to walk a few distance away before the blunette went out of the room to witness his spouse glaring toward the walls, arms crossed awkwardly and one finger scratching his cheek. He quirked his eyebrows, pallid blue pierced intently toward the glimpsing multi-coloured ones.

"Sei. . .?"

The redhead dared himself to look up and meet the clear blue pools. Seijuurou swallowed his nerves, "Yeah?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I, uh. . ." one finger brushed his nose, "About to sleep."

The shorter male wasn't convinced. "Are you sure?"

"Positively sure."

He was hoping that there wouldn't be any more questions. He didn't want to get caught, but damn, was he obvious right now. And of course, Tetsuya was taking in every hints he could get. Just as he was observing the blunette, he had to remind himself over and over again that the blunette was observing him as well.

And there was a sigh, released into the thick air of tension just to add more pressure. "I know you're listening, Sei. . ."

"Look, I'm ―"

Tetsuya closed their distance together. Now it was a matter of inches, eye to eye contact turning into a heated battle to who was about to avert their gazes first.

"If you're about to say anything about what happened today," he was glaring, for fuck's sake, "You better don't."

Seijuurou huffed, exasperation held between his exhales and he held onto one shoulder, his grip tight. "Look Tetsuya, I just want to know ―"

"Don't say it. . ."

He turned his back, pushing the arm away and he walked farther. Tetsuya pretended to close his ears with both of his palms pressed together at the sides of his head.

"I'm sorry ―"

He hummed a song. Seijuurou wasn't sure of what song specifically but he knew the blunette was feigning ignorance. That didn't meant stopping him from bringing up the subject though.

"I mean, can you listen to me for a sec ―"

"Seijuurou, please!"

He was almost in tears, but that didn't halt Seijuurou any further. He was tired of the blunette running away from the subject, running away from the matter. He was sick of playing happy family when he knew the household was broken in the first place. He was sick that he was playing along with Tetsuya's delusions.

That at some point, he wanted this to stop. Even if it meant sending the blunette in a tsunami of tears. He have to hurt Tetsuya, for now. To make him realise at some point. To make him see that this wasn't all just a game he could play and move on.

With all of his anger and impatience boiled up at one point, he slammed one fist against the wall loud and groaned. The impact caused a resonance, causing echoes to float around the empty halls for seconds before he trudged closer to the cowering blunette.

"You know what, Tetsuya. If you want to run away so much, then why don't you do it literally?"

"W-What are you talking about?" He looked torn, and hurt as Hell.

Seijuurou huffed, but he raised his voice louder. "I just wanted to settle all this, can't you see! Here I am, making this into effort. Putting a lot of work I'm not supposed to just to make you admit, but why do you have to always hide it like it doesn't matter?!"

"That's not how it ―"

"Oh yeah?" He swallowed, one hand wiping the sweat from his jaw, "And running in circles makes everything easier? I don't think so."

"Please, Sei. . ." Tetsuya gulped, choking himself with newly-found tears that started flowing endlessly, "I just don't want you to get hurt. . ."

The redhead hardened his glare, "Are you sure? Because you don't seem to realise you're hurting me right now. . ." Seijuurou closed the gap in between them both, his shaking hands direly wanted to caress the wet cheeks. But he stopped midway, and he sighed, "I need a break, Tetsuya."

The redhead stepped away from the gaping blunette, shocked by the impact of his words. A few moments later, he heard their bedroom door crashing to a close. Quite harshly, he might add. But still. . . He never thought it would turn out this way. That one thing he was protecting, it was futile in the end.

In the end, his efforts were all. . .

Gone.

"Oh _Kami_ , Sei ―" the blunette dropped to the floor, "I'm so sorry. . ."

The Akashi heir could hear the sobs pretty well from outside, he heard the agony in his cries. The realisation. And he hoped that it was all worth, that when tomorrow comes, everything would be different.

It was bound to be different.

But of course, Seijuurou wished that he had never predicted the after events of his own actions. That every actions had their own effects, and one was sure to be familiar with unpredictability when it came to an Akashi's influence.

Tetsuya was that unpredictability, however.

That one Sunday morning, Seijuurou found himself waking alone, weighed with a dreadful feeling. He felt a sense that a storm was about to brew upon this morning, dark clouds rolled up ahead from the window. He stretched his arm, expecting to feel the lithe body beside him but was met with empty space. The spot beside him was bare, and lacked the familiar warmth he sensed every single day. The redhead went into shambles, panicking as he dashed around every room of his own home just. And there wasn't any presence of Akashi Tetsuya at all, not a trace of his whereabouts. No trace of breakfast, so he hadn't been cooking early in the morning with Sakura as well.

Speaking of Sakura. . .

The redhead ran upstairs once more and head over to the girl's room. He expected the pink-haired child to be sprawled beneath the duvet, all comfy and sleeping. But the bed was empty, saved by the mess she had left and Sakura was sitting on the swivel chair looking like a kicked puppy.

Hints that she had been crying. Hints that she had somehow talked to her _chichiue_ before he somehow disappeared.

The girl had refused to meet his eyes, but she muttered audible enough to hit the redhead straight to his feels; " _Chichiue_ left. . . This morning. . . We didn't get to cook together after all. . ." She started sobbing, her small hands wiping gossamer tears from her blue eyes, "Why did he left, _otou-san_?"

There was so many words he wanted to say, so many he had to admit. But he found himself caught between his own dilemma, between his own pain ― and oh dear, was he crying as well?

And the only words that he managed to blurt out came like a mantra, "I don't know. . . I don't know. . ." Because he might as well know, but deep inside. . . Seijuurou himself was lost.

Perhaps, there was a reason for Tetsuya's own game.

The deal.

It served a purpose to make their joy lasted as it could.

In the end, their conflict was nothing more but a double edged sword. Both had their own reasons, both had their own hopes and wishes ― but both came to end with a blistering pain in the end.

That, nothing mattered anymore.

It was useless. . .

Tetsuya had ran away.

Literally.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I FINALLY GRADUATE HAHAHAHA AND THEN I MAKE THIS HAHAHAHAH**

 **I change my plans, it seems like you guys can predict what I'm writing. So, I'm like nu-uh, let's make them cry harder! HARDER! Hahaha sorry. . .**

 **It feels strange not to go to school anymore. I am lost. Lol. And I don't feel ready to leave school actually. Most said you gain true friends in college, but the people I spent time with in high school, they make my life worth a living. And I truly love my class. ;u;**

 **So yeah, now I'm just gonna go gaming! Add me in Steam, ohmirawrr if you want to play TF2 or Paladins or L4D2 or anything with me. I'm happy for some companion and I'm ready to meet new friends :D**

 **X for love O for hate! You know the drill ;)**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	19. Day Seventeen (Monday)

**My holy angels :**

 **Cecilia54**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Mizuumi Yoite**

 **Glyza**

 **shirotani**

 **LucasZorro**

 **Guest**

 **Akakuro babe**

 **Aoi Haruka-hime**

 **kirika o7**

 **AddictedBxB**

 **Noah Earl Graves**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **The Yaoi Matchmaker**

 **Takucchi**

 **Note : I have like thirteen more days to go lol and still more stuffs up my sleeves ooh yeah**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY SEVENTEEN**

 **Monday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _I thought about how there are two types of secrets: the kind you want to keep in, and the kind you don't dare to let out."  
― __Ally Carter_ _,_ _Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover_

* * *

It was devastating to be alone on the first day of a weekday. It was even devastating to feed a girl who was hurrying to school with only yoghurt and mango juice and some potato chips Seijuurou found at the back of the cabinet, fortunately having its expiry date extended to next year. It was even devastating to meet up with Satsuki as she got off from her flight and hurried back to his own abode to find the lacking a certain, bustling blunette.

Satsuki quirked her brows, arms akimbo to her waist as she eyed the clueless redhead and waiting for a sort of explanation from him. She had always suspected a conflict between those two, but not until the blunette had went missing.

And _Kami_ , if Sakura had been involved in this. . . Her daughter was strong, she believed. But still, no more than a child who deserved no involvement in a fight between two idiots ― adults, she meant.

Now, they'd been taken to McDonalds. God knows why McDonalds, maybe because the little girl had been eyeing the fast food restaurant and nudged Seijuurou that she wanted the strawberry sundae.

"So, what's all this. . ." she dragged out a long breathe out, one hand propped against her temple and she just couldn't open her eyes without the migraine hitting her like a motherfucker. She hated the clueless expression on Seijuurou's face, no offense. But damn, Satsuki was betting on a good story out of his mouth for sure. "What happened between you and Tetsu, Akashi-kun?"

The redhead sighed, exasperated. And somehow, there was a hint of exhaustion that lingered painfully. He looked like a kicked puppy, for sure. But the woman still demanded a story, so be it. "Tetsuya won't tell me his problem, it's been around for. . . two weeks now, and he still wouldn't want to say it to me. Instead, he made a deal of some sort that would last for a month before we ―" he chewed the insides of his cheek, suddenly feeling uneasy to confess the truth to his friend. "Look, it was all my fault ―"

"Okay, okay," Satsuki interrupted, "Before you two what, Akashi-kun? Don't leave me hanging, here."

"I don't ―"

"If you tell me, I can help you find Tetsuya."

"Really?"

Momoi Satsuki, who were once the ever-so-polite manager of their basketball team and had been always the one to obey Akashi, rolled her eyes toward him. Look how ten years could change a person, and secretly Seijuurou found himself pleased over the sudden change of treatment toward him. "Yeah, because you two had been acting like tight-lipped fools and I can actually assume that your marriage has not been well lately." She looked down, as if deep in thought. "You guys aren't divorcing, are you?"

The Akashi heir remained silent for a moment. Eyes clear and gleamed in bright sienna and liquid crimson pierced straight to the cherry ones belonged to Momoi Satsuki, and she found herself nervous with her own question let loose in the midst of tension.

"I was reconsidering. . ."

That was it.

The respond she waited. It wasn't exactly a rejection, nor an agreement. It hung on both sides, reflecting on the choices that might set any future ablaze in flames. Either of the other girl or man Seijuurou was planning, or Tetsu's? Satsuki wasn't sure.

But she, herself, had broken off her relationship with Aomine. She knew the pain of divorce even when two sides of coins were in the deal. She couldn't help herself but having her own palm landing against Seijuuroi's cheek. When she realised her own action, Momoi found herself gasping ― Sakura dropped the plastic spoon, and the redhead's expression was either way priceless.

But he wasn't angry.

Satsuki knew that _he_ knew, he might as well had deserved physical pain straight to his face.

"Reconsidering. . .? Reconsidering?" She found herself with small tears, "Don't you even know your own emotions anymore?"

"Look ―"

" _Kami_ , Akashi-kun. . . If you can't choose, you might as well be alone!"

The man bit his lip, every word he meant to say after thrown off to the window and left forgotten. He nodded, meekly but good Lord knows that he was silently tortured by a pang of guilt that started to settle once again in his throbbing heart.

"I have to go. . ." he said, out of a sudden. The redhead stood from his chair, stepped closer to kiss the forehead of her child, and Sakura released a pained whimpered ― _"Don't go. . . I wanna search for chichiue too."_ ― but he shook his head and made his haste leave.

Momoi was still too alarmed to even stop him for now.

* * *

"Oi, Tetsu. . ." the voice of a man who sounded so frantic and dubiously unpleased with his abrupt actions didn't truly linger long in his mind. Tetsuya was far too distracted to even listen, just gazing up the thick clouds rolling with a preparation of its downpour. The man did not bother to give up though, he spoke again; "Are you sure you wanna go? What about Akashi?"

"What about him?" Tetsuya sighed, he had been warming his hands with a thermos filled with black coffee for about two hours now, that they settled inside the jeep with Kagami driving him all the way to the Kansai prefecture. He gazed outside the opened window, looking at the small buildings and bustling crowd busy with their own lives.

"Have you two been fighting?" The taller man was truly shocked, especially since he had been a witness to their romcom shit back in high school. Everyone knew how cheesy back then; the two of them were head over heels toward each other. What made them change?

Tetsuya dragged another sigh, "Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe?"

"Look, Kagami-kun," he brought his striking blue gaze to the tall man, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm tired."

"I just wanna help," grumbled Kagami, "You hired me as a freaking driver from Tokyo anyway. Have some respect." He fisted the shoulder softly, and Tetsuya released a snort of some sort but a small smile plastered against his lips.

"I know, thanks. . ."

But that was all to it. Still, no explanations. No clue. Kagami was going nowhere with his friend. And Tetsuya wasn't exactly readable. Heck, it was a miracle the Akashi heir was able to read every detail from his stoic expression.

Bless his Sherlock talents.

The blunette shifted when they stopped to a small inn residing in Kyoto. Shifting glances to the crooked sign, to the wooden doors, to Kagami's confused face and back outside. Gripping the thermos tightly, Tetsuya knew the fear was starting to surface.

He wasn't exactly in need for another vacation, only to find solace to keep his mind out of the problems. It had been a rush, and he wasn't exactly in a prepared state. Heck, he forgot his bag of clothes in Sakura's bedroom, whilst he only had his wallet and mobile phone to spare. He even forgot the charger, for _Kami_ 's sake.

But what other choice did he have?

"Thanks, Kagami-kun," the words almost quivered to nothingness, but Tetsuya managed to harden his voice to a clearer sound. "You. . . You can go home now."

Kagami almost choked. And the panic resurfaced, again. He twitched and grabbed Tetsuya by the shoulder, "You fucking sure? You're alone, _Jesus_!"

"Yes," Tetsuya gripped the hand and removed from his shoulder, alarmed by the gesture but he feigned an air of frustration instead. Seconds after, his expression softened and he waved the redhead. "I just need some time alone. It's better this way. . ."

"But ―"

"If Seijuurou met you, please Kagami-kun," he breathed, "Don't tell him anything."

"Tetsu, are you fucking kidding me ―"

But it was no use. Swift like a river, clear like the fresh water as he could be, Tetsuya was gone from his sight. Only _Kami_ knows where he went, slipping into the crowd of Kyoto, blending in like the invisible man he had always be.

To Kagami, the man who used to be Kuroko Tetsuya had always been an enigma. A mystery. A story to unravel, a riddle to learn. But this time, just by gazing the pallid blue in his eyes ― wavering and unfocused, distracted and thoughtful but fear and panic lingering ― Kagami knew he had to meet Akashi.

Nobody could hurt his best friend, ever. Not even when it involved his own lover.

* * *

 _Calling Tetsuya. . ._

No answer.

 _C_ _alling Tetsuya. . ._

No answer.

 _Calling Tetsuya. . ._

No answer.

Lying against the floor, was a foreign sight nobody would have ever expected. There situated a drunk and sorrowful Akashi Seijuurou, an arm sprawled across his face and fingers pulling the scarlet tufts from his scalp. Lost in his thoughts, lost in the booze that carried half of his sanity away, lost in the flashes of a pair of eyes, warm like the sky, shining like polished diamonds, kind like the soul he was.

His phone was dying, but fuck it. He might as well try. There was always miracle, even the logical Seijuurou wanted to believe in miracles because, dear _Kami_ , he needed it so badly.

And there was the letter, placed so close but clearly not the same as it first appeared. Torn to pieces, small bits of papers strewn across the floor, collecting dust as they began to crumble.

 _Calling Yui. . ._

"S-Sei. . .?"

"What do you think if we'll never marry at all," he choked out the words, chest heavy with dread of hurting a woman. He was hurting people, was it all he could do beyond this moment? "I mean, I think my feelings are changing but I still want to love you, and I still think you're a wonderful person. But you know, Yui. . . I just can't let go."

There was a long, long sigh. The redhead expected anger from Yui, expected her to scream or claw him out in public if they were to meet ever again. But there was an air of silence that dawdled too long. He found himself questioning over his choice of words, what was happening? "Sei?" Yui finally called out, "I'm coming over."

"What, why?"

There was another pause. With his feelings at the edge, Seijuurou found his patience running thin. "Why?" He called out again, reaching to the line because he wanted a god damn response.

But suddenly there was knocking against the front door. Loud banging that signaled frantic and fear and desperation.

It was nobody else but Yamanaka Yui.

Dressed in a simple evening dress, her ebony hair done in large curls ― no make up but a thin line of eyeliner above her naturally long lashes. She blinked and swallowed the lump, looking nervous and wrecked, even surprised to see the opposite condition of her, er, lover.

"What. . .?" Seijuurou breathed, still lost. Still lost, because she was here ― but Tetsuya was still out there. He could be anywhere.

And out of a sudden, the woman pulled him to a tight embrace. Her heat spread out, wanting to give him a sense of comfort ― but in truth, Yui wanted nothing more but answers. When she pulled away, Seijuurou held onto the blank expression. Except that his heterochromia eyes were wide open, and he was left gaping.

She snorted out, a small smile as she tried to fake a pleased laughter, "I knew it, Sei. . ."

" _Kami_ , I know what you're going to say. . ."

Yui giggled, and she fisted his chest like a wonderful person she was, indeed. She retraced back her steps and smiled, "That Tetsuya guy loves you, Sei," she paused, "I do, too, but damn. . . Can't you see? He's beautiful, and I'm not. . ."

Seijuurou heaved out a breathy laughter, he shook his head. "Yui, don't say that. . ."

"Choose him."

It seemed like a good final words for Yui. She pondered over the sentence and smiled at how remarkable the scene would have if she would walk away with those, let Seijuurou wonder. Let him wonder.

And walk away she did. Yui didn't look back, refused to look at the expression he would have made. Indeed, it would have been a pleasing and amusing reaction. She memorised every expression he made, and she giggled by herself. After all, she knew he wouldn't be there to reach out for her.

He was reaching out for Tetsuya.

 _Dear Seijuurou._

 _Sweet Seijuurou._

 _Because with the two of us, it's not warm anymore._

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I graduate, but I miss school. Can you believe that? XD**

 **Anyway, I used to pull my hair if I'm stressed sometimes.** **O** **r bang my head in the process.** **B** **ut I rarely got stressed anyway, I'm easily distracted and forget about it and the next moment I have different thoughts lol. Writing about marriage is not easy, but I have experience with family (dark days) I found it natural to write writing scenes. Of course, real life is more brutal than just arguments of words. I don't want Seijuurou ending up beating Tetsuya like wth**

 **Nah, Tetsuya's only staying in Kyoto temporarily. I'm moving him somewhere soon :3**

 **God, guys. Add me in Steam : ohmirawrr if you wanna play games with me ;) Although. . . I like single player better lol**

 **X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi**


	20. Day Eighteen (Tuesday)

**7/10/2017 : Due to the fact that I fix this chapter for a bit, I forgot who reviews during the previous chapter release.**

 **WHOOOOPS.**

 **Sorry hahahah my bad but I love y'all!**

 **I feel bad for not crediting. :(**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY EIGHTEEN**

 **Tuesday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _...though she had not had the strength to shake off the spell that bound her to him she had lost all spontaneity of feeling, and seemed to herself to be passively awaiting a fate she could not avert."  
― __Edith Wharton_ _,_ _Summer_

* * *

She never expected for him to return the next day; There she was busy in her own, quaint office room filing the documents that had been piling up on her desk ― calculator on the edge, her cellphone buzzing with a tune played in small volume; Beethoven's _Marmotte_ , a red notebook filled with minutes of meetings and lists of calculations (she worked in audit firm, after all) and crossings; a few doodles here and there and her Lenovo at the most centre ― and suddenly there came Seijuurou, in his usual suit; smart and sharp-looking as always. Yet this time, he adorned a conflicted look, lost like a child despite leaning against the now closed door behind him. He attempted an awkward smile, lifted his hand weakly to give her a wave.

She spoke to lighten the air; "Pretty early to set a date, huh?" There was small laughter, but the way he had laughed seemed heavy to Yui's ears. After all, one does not simply return without a reason when she had been the one to dump him. It had been so good yesterday, and yet Seijuurou had to ruin it for her. "What's happening?" Her voice shaky, lined with concern.

"Will you hear me out?"

"Well sure, but if it's a fucking story that required three hours of listening, you might as well be notified that I'm meeting with a client in about," she checked her watch, a golden wristwatch from a birthday gift, Michael Kors, "an hour," she looked back to Seijuurou, and quirked her eyebrows, "Aren't you supposed to be working too?"

"Soon."

"So? What's the matter?"

The redhead looked slightly anxious. He clasped his hands together, "Yui, last night. . . I'm sorry if my words hurt you in some way."

"Look, Sei," she interrupted him before he could speak any further, "I mean what I said last night. It's nothing about what you said, okay? You mean it, you want to be a keeper, Sei. And I know, deep down there," she closed the distance between them, until they were no more but half a metre apart, and poked his chest with an index finger; "Your feelings for Tetsuya are still strong."

Seijuurou knew that. Of course he did. It became clear now, but of course, sooner or later his feelings were bound to be pointless.

"I know about mine. . . But Tetsuya? I don't know. . ."

The hesitance in his voice was strong. Sweat trickling on his forehead; his fists instinctively clenched as he brooded. The ebony-haired woman took upon the dare to ask him.

"I've been suspecting it, but uh, I just confirmed it last night. . ."

She swallowed, "W-What. . . What are you talking about? He's dying?" The words didn't felt good rolling on her tongue, "Then, why are you here?"

"He's not dying, Yui," a tensed pause, "Early onset dementia. Triggered from an incident years ago. . ."

There was a moment of silence, a long uneasy pause that neither of them seemed to long for but did not dare to speak a word. Yui dropped the file she was holding for quite some time and her other free hand clasped her mouth.

"This age ―? That's pretty rare, Seijuurou."

"From an accident, Yui."

Another silence, but this time Seijuurou seemed to snifle his tears from coming down. There was a pained look, and he was holding it all back in ― _don't cry, don't cry, please. . ._ ― but he had been on the edge for days. The things he worked so hard always ended up crumbling to pieces again. He felt a touch on the shoulder, warm but not the warmest; and Seijuurou flinched.

He traced his footsteps backwards, pulling the door behind him open. "I need to go now. . . I guess."

"Wait, Sei ―"

The man looked up. His multi-coloured eyes showed an unfamiliar expression, glossy and wet and disdained.

The raven held her breath and heaved out a long sigh, "What was the point of telling me, actually? I mean, we shouldn't have something going on already. And so far that I know of, Tetsuya isn't really close to me," she chuckled at her own words, "In fact, he hates me."

"Perhaps," Seijuurou didn't try to deny it, because well ― it was a well-known fact since the beginning, "But can't you be my friend?"

 _Friend._

"R-Right."

There was nothing else to be said, afterwards.

Seijuurou didn't expect to return home to found a visitor on the doorstep. Tall and olive-skinned (they said he joined extreme sports ― bungee, sky diving, for fun in diploma); with a darker shade of crimson much contrast to his ashen scarlet, and dangling within his lips a lit cigarette, and he was puffing smoke everywhere. A blue flannel wrapped around his torso, whilst he wore nothing more than a simple black tee and faded jeans, a pair of Levi's Seijuurou knew Tetsuya had bought for the taller man on his twenty-first birthday six years ago.

The taller man glanced him sideways, taking a long drag from the cancer stick and remained as silence as he could be, but there was something else than just a simple relaxation on his expression. One arm crossed, a slouched lean against a bare wall, eyes squinted slightly to give a dip on his thick brows, eyeing his every movement ― everything about him was yelling curiosity, with loads of questions at the tip of his tongue.

"Fancy meeting you here," smoothly, the Akashi heir spoke but he was wondering as well.

Kagami wasn't one to beat around the bush though. He straightened his shoulders, took a last inhale to his cigarette and tossed it aside ― Seijuurou tried hard not to be disturbed by the littering ― and stood tall, as if to intimidate Seijuurou; who was only shorter than him by a mere inch now. "What's going on between you and Tetsu?" he breathed out the dreaded question at last.

"Depending on the question, I assume you knew Tetsuya's whereabouts."

But before he could press any farther, Kagami slammed his palm against the door and flinched at his own strength. "Don't you dare to ignore my question!"

"We have an argument," Seijuurou confessed, fast, "I admit, it's my fault. But you should know better that I'm not here to idle as well. Now," he may be shorter, but the pair of raw sandy shade and the colour of thick blood sent an icy shiver to Kagami's spine, "You might as well tell me where you sent him off."

Kagami scoffed, somehow a bit baffled but not disturbed. "What makes you think it was me?"

"Well, since you're not actually involved in my life with Tetsuya. But here you are right now, asking me what's happening to Tetsuya but not about where he might be."

The taller man winced at his own dubious advances, and clicked his tongue to express his frustration yet to himself. "Fine," he sighed, grabbing another cigarette ― Marlboro's ― from the back pockets, "He's in Kyoto, but this morning he told me through text that he probably went to his parents' tomorrow."

"His parents'? Osaka?" Kagami nodded by his brief wonder, "Then why is he in Kyoto now?"

"Who knows? I asked him a lot of questions yesterday," he lit up the new cigarette, "Didn't say much though."

The thought of Tetsuya being alone didn't seem so appealing, especially since his condition wasn't the most satisfying. Seijuurou took no moments to spare, he bolted as quickly as lightning but the other one wasn't too eager to let him go just yet.

"Where are you going?" Kagami snarled, "Oi, I'm not done with you yet!"

The intimidating one stopped his paces, and sent the taller redhead a fierce glare that reminded him of bad memories from ten years ago. Kagami gulped, and his frustration seemed to be replaced by something else. "And what more do you want to know? It's a pretty nice offer to have a seat and chitchat but if you think I'm going to waste my time now, you might as well reconsider that."

"And you think he wants to see you right now?" asked the latter, "Especially since he's probably had a good reason to run away from you ―"

Before he got to say any farther, Kagami found himself plopped onto the ground before feeling the sting on his left cheek; perhaps, bruised by now. Glancing upwards, the redhead remained a calm composure, but even Kagami knew better the sandy and crimson eyes could par the devil's gaze by now. He noticed Seijuurou's fists clenching tightly, holding his breath for a short time of interval before huffing. "I'm leaving," he notified.

Wide-eyed and startled, Kagami just let the other one left him on the ground. He snorted a laughter; "Jesus Christ, they're both similar. . . Why the fuck are they arguing anyway?"

At night, Tetsuya listened to plenty of things. He heard the laughter of men and clinking shot glasses, he'd heard music from below, and there was a bottle crashed (he knew it was a bottle because the others complained their booze was wasted just like that); he heard mothers screaming to little children to sleep; it was 11PM. He heard sex from the next room; the moans of the woman sounded too forceful and unnatural ― the blunette had to cringe. But it's not like the man cared anyway; they continued with the noises, the creaks, the rough foreplays (he heard slaps, he wished not to imagine any farther than what he could have listened). Yet, with all those noises, he wondered why he was here in the first place and the loneliness that settled deep in the pit of his chest.

He remembered his name, Tetsuya ― was it? He remembered he have a companion, but where could he had been?

In the square room of wooden boards, tatami mats and somehow a cheap bed with a thin quilt draped over it, and an aged desk and a shaky chair; Tetsuya knew that he wasn't home. He knew he was somewhere far than home. But he couldn't be sure why his mind was fuzzy; why was he here?

And just as he was about to remember, his phone rang with a somewhat familiar name clicked on the screen. "Akashi. . ." It sounded familiar, it sounded nice in words. There was warmth in the name, _Seijuurou_. But somehow, the bitterness settled back before he could stop himself from answering. "S-Sei. . .?" He choked out the words, unable to contain the tears from his eyes. He wasn't scared. It was a deeper feeling than that.

Short to say, Tetsuya was terrified.

"Tetsuya? Where are you?" The other voice held the same wavelength of fear, somehow. And instantly, Tetsuya could feel the bitter feeling dissipate as if it wasn't there in the first place. Seijuurou spoke again, when Tetsuya didn't bother to respond. "Where are you? I'm here. I'm here in Kyoto too. . ."

"I'm in. . ."

 _An inn._

"Uh. . ."

"Tetsuya?" The voice was tight, shaky.

"I don't know. . ."

There was a groan of distress; and before the blunette could speak any farther, the line went dead and left him with a long, monotonous beep. And all Tetsuya could do was to wonder, and perhaps wait.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Oh boy, only a few chapters more! :3 And then, I'll be on a rampage proofreading my own story. Hahahahaha!**

 **How's your holidays, people? I don't know what to do in my six-month holiday. Perhaps, write and game. . . Write and game. . . Write and game. . . And I'm going to finish this and The Push and Pull Relationship so I can finish my other AkaKuro stories as well.**

 **X for love, O for hate?**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2016)**


	21. Day Nineteen (Wednesday)

**Credits :**

 **kirika o7**

 **The Yaoi MatchMaker**

 **NoahE. Graves**

 **FuyukoAme**

 **LucasZorro**

 **BabyNightmareLady**

 **Rinfantasy**

 **Mizuumi Yoite**

 **Guest**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **Mitsuki Izumi**

 **AddictedBxB**

 **mwaheumi**

 **ryu elchan**

 **idklol**

 **Salmon Head**

* * *

 **READ THIS :**

 **I'm. . .** **S** **orry. I'm a bad person, making my readers waiting in such a painful arc. Ha. . . Ha. . .** **It's supposed to be a six-month break before university, it's supposed to be the time when I'm able to write. It's the time I'm supposed to be free. But. . . I don't know. I lost it.**

 **A part of me wanted to write, my hands itching to type my keyboard and end the story all for once. A part of me couldn't, the words didn't come out how I wouldn't and I found myself stuck.**

 **Was it because of pressure? I. . . I don't know. These days, I'm feeling lost. It's a hollow feeling that suddenly makes you feel like you wanna cry, and I. . . Well, I don't know. I'm confused too. But these days, I've been resurfacing old memories and mostly, I'm feeling a lot of remorse.**

 **Well, conclusion-wise, I'm sorry I have to make this chapter short. It was all I could do for now.**

 **I'm. . . Sorry. . .**

 **PS, I never state Tetsuya have any occupation. Maybe I should change it; originally, I planned on making him a freelance author who published at least like one book. Well, yeah, I'm gonna edit everything once it's done anyway.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY NINETEEN**

 **Wednesday**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

" _It hurts to let go. Sometimes it seems the harder you try to hold on to something or someone the more it wants to get away. You feel like some kind of criminal for having felt, for having wanted. For having wanted to be wanted. It confuses you, because you think that your feelings were wrong and it makes you feel so small because it's so hard to keep it inside when you let it out and it doesn't coma back. You're left so alone that you can't explain. Damn, there's nothing like that, is there? I've been there and you have too. You're nodding your head."  
― __Henry Rollins_ _,_ _The Portable Henry Rollins_

* * *

Imagine this.

Living in different places every week, switching between house number one and house number two, and sometimes you'd be transported to a rundown apartment filled with adult mags and military vests. Perhaps, occasionally, your real home was nothing but a communication with hand languages and listening to phone calls that seemingly disallowed you to speak to your mother.

And sometimes, you'd get a nice attention to a man who worked at home, his life in between making a home comfortable and nice to writing a thick book that you could have never read because you're not able to grasp most words yet. And sometimes, you'd meet with the husband whose eyes seemed cold yet tender when having you in his arms.

It was weird to Sakura, how one day everything seemed happy and the next thing she was facing with shouts echoing in every corners.

It was frightening.

But she kept quiet, sitting stiffly on the kitchen stool in her house number one ― her blue eyes watching her mother with her phone as usual. Somehow that day, her stomach was unable to digest any more dinner even though it came from one of her favourite takeouts but she pushed her udon away and decided it was best to brood in her bedroom.

Sometimes, she wished she has a phone. At the very least, she'd feel at least connected to her _chichiue_ and perhaps she could contact him.

It had been two days and there wasn't any news about Tetsuya yet.

Her bedroom door slowly leaned forward to reveal her mother with those familiar expression which clearly stated ― "Honey, I might be busy again tonight. Would you want to stay with Sei-kun, hm?" ― and the question did popped out.

The child blinked, expecting but somehow disappointed at the truth of her random guesses. Still, it was better than being alone in a rather large space for her, so there wasn't any other excuses to refuse.

"Alright, go on and pack your things then. I'll call your _otou-san_ right away, okay?"

"Okay."

After all, there was nothing she could've done. Nothing her mother could've avoid.

 _It was for the best._

And she knew, because that was what she had been taught.

But for now, at times like these, she wished she wouldn't have to stay at the Akashi residence at the moment. Seijuurou, by all means, was of course a nice fellow ― if not a tad too stern, even for a young girl, finding him intimidating in some sorts.

At times like these, she yearned for the warmest of the blue, the gentlest of the eyes, and the kindest of hands that often stroke the baby pink tufts too much.

The residence seemed bleak, it grew darker, like shadows creeping from the corners. She shivered, but grabbed her small bag pack nonetheless and smiled to her mother, the best that she could.

"Send my regards to Sei-kun, okay honey?" Her mother said, before planting a kiss on the forehead. Sakura nodded, although meekly and she entered the door which led to the living room of her house number three.

Dark, darker and darkest.

Her third home felt different from the usual vibrant, it changed and morphed into the moodiest of mood; not of a pleasant taste, and for a child, she felt more of a frightened feeling than concern.

" _Otou-san_. . ." she called out meekly, politely kicking her shoes to the side and stepping to the mid of the space, her little toe was met with a clank ― leading to another clanks ― and she almost stumbled upon the unknown source of the echoing sounds. " _Otou-san_ , where are you?" Her voice became smaller, fear had grasped the audibility of her supposedly vivacious tone.

She bent down to pick up the source of clinks, reading the label from a green glass bottle and upon finding the word _alcohol_ , she knew Seijuurou was up to no good.

"N-No. . ." she searched for the lights, it took her minutes but she managed, and she came to a conclusion ― a sight of more than a dozen bottles of wine. Wine her mother drank when her father had came to a disagreement with her, wine her father wished he could afford than the _shit drink_ she often heard him mutter. "Seijuurou. . ." she whispered, and she dashed to the room.

 _I don't want to lose yet another family!_

She breathed, gasping ― panic.

 _Kami-sama, give them chances. Give us your grace, your pity, your love. Give us anything, I'm begging you._

A tear rolled down her cherubic cheeks. She opened the door where Seijuurou and Tetsuya sleeps, and gave out a sigh of relief ― a shaky, long draw of breathe ― her legs slumped down and she prayed her thanks that her _otou-san_ was fine.

Physically, at the very least.

There was an exhausted redhead, with ashen cheeks and an unrest expression. Yet, sleeping he did with the coat he wore yesterday and was too bothered to change.

Sakura touched his skin; it was cold and unshaven and dry but she stroked his face, gently and she sat beside him, resting her own cheek against the mattress and she whispered;

"It's gonna be alright. We'll find him soon. We will. . ."

She sobbed a little, but held back the tears.

"We will, we will. . ."

And she chanted the words till she, too, fell asleep.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : I timeskip to nighttime right away, and yes after this I will make the following day but I'll tell flashbacks of what happened in Tuesday. PS, poor Sakura. Fyi, she was scared that Seijuurou might be thinking of something like suicide. How'd a five-year old girl would know this stuff, you wonder? ;) Who knows. . . /chuckles I learnt about suicide and homicide at a young age too, it wasn't me but I. . .** **W** **itnessed it.**

 **What do you guys think? X for love, O for hate.**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2017)**


	22. Day Twenty (Thursday)

**Reviews omnomnom :**

 **KyuuKyuuMoo**

 **Daygon Yuuki**

 **LucasZorro**

 **NoahEarlGraves**

 **Guest**

 **lolitasylva23**

 **ryu elchan**

 **jeanne**

 **SuperHarmony**

 **masuchii**

 **mwaheumi**

 **huangangelin**

 **Akashi-Meiukemi**

 **Notes : I'm an ass. I haven't update since I entered college. Welcome to architecture, a course which does not allows you to sleep for a week.**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY TWENTY**

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 **TEN MORE DAYS**

 **Thursday**

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" _Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them."  
― __Mitch Albom_ _,_ _For One More Day_

* * *

What day was it today?

He didn't exactly remembered on how he was in a middle of Kyoto, he didn't exactly knew how he ended up inside a cranky room with nasty floorboards. The futon wasn't the most comfortable, and it made his back sore as he woke up just to be lost and confused more than ever. Anyway, he woke up from hysterical shouts ― perhaps, a fight or an argument. But it had triggered something in his mind, somewhat a familiar scene playing in his mind before it faded away once again.

Then, he was back to square one.

Looking around, Tetsuya realised he was alone ― and probably nobody was with him, after all. He dressed himself before deciding to get the hell out of here before his ears deafened fully, the argument rolled for an hour already; "I didn't ask you to have sex with me!" ― or something like that.

It was best to be outside, after all. Yet, sooner or later, the blunette found himself propped in the middle of nowhere again.

Were his other mornings as silent as today?

Facing the field, the wind on his face, touching the skin ever so lightly and gave him the chills of memories from a distant past ― or maybe not too long ago either. Early, bright sunshine was a pain; ascending from the nice warm level to a scorching bitch attack to anyone in particular. Yet, Tetsuya was not one to inch any movement from the spot, his palms gritting against rusty bars but the swing stayed in zero velocity.

There was a ball that rolled to his feet ― round and orange and familiar-looking. One with brown, gritty lines and texture rough to the fingers, but able to allow strong grips. Tetsuya found himself allured to the particular object, had one arm stretched and bend just to touch the ball. Not even to the point of carrying or picking it up, actually, and yet upon a single (supposedly harmless touch) he could feel a sharp throb in his head. Like a constant yelling, a swift stab at the back of his head and came in the ache ― the blunette groaned, his fingers pushed the ball away and it rolled farther and farther.

A low, weak moan pushed back from his throat, as minutes later, Tetsuya found himself lying on the dirty ground. His hair matted with the soil and dirt and dust, but what was more worse was that the headache worsened. And he was utterly, genuinely confused.

"Wha. . .?" He tried standing up, he tried reaching out. But no matter what, he felt as if his throat was stuck ― like drowning into waves and waves of sea water, his consciousness slipped and slipped in the deepest depth of his memory. . .

 _In the end. . ._

 _It was all about the college days._

 _Reckless college days._

 _And yet, it was all because of the summer hols._

 _And then, there was. . ._

What was there?

The image he was seeing started to fade, like a glitch in a system, it crackled and made weird buzzing noises.

Echoes. . . Louder buzzes singing in his ears, chanting in his mind, reminding him and yet he could not remember.

Faces, lots of faces. Familiar ones, strangers, family ― who was family? ― strangers, strangers, more strangers. . .

A flash of redhead appeared in his mind, and suddenly Tetsuya was drowned in a pool of memories. Buzzing, echoing, ringing in his ears. Images swirling, circling, rounding him like a poor, lost victim. And yes, Tetsuya was a victim to a condition. Bounded, unable to escape. Just as he was at that moment, frozen to the spot and he caught himself watching, the memories from the past.

It was college when it happened.

 _"You sure you'll be fine?" Seijuurou asked from the other side. Somehow he was willing to call despite being thousands of miles apart from Tetsuya, and god, calling overseas aren't as cheap as buying a burger from Maji. Anyway, the redhead did came from a rich family_ ― _that bastard_ ― _Tetsuya could only retort._

 _He smiled upon noticing the concern his lover was giving. The worry lines showing at the crook of his brows, and the scowl he was making was a tight-lipped, cheek-puffing technique. Of course, Tetsuya found it absolutely adorable. "Of course, I'll be fine," cerulean eyes rolled sarcastically, as if the redhead was going to see anyway; but if he did, oh Seijuurou would be so mad, "It's just basketball camp, Sei-kun!"_

 _"Okay, okay," Tetsuya heard his irritation, the gritting of teeth and how he could imagined the nineteen year old boy would pace around in his own room, being nervous and shit. "So," he continued with another question, obviously not yet convinced, "Who's bringing you? Who," he emphasised the last 'who', "Are you going with?"_

 _"Relax, it's just Kagami_ ― _"_

 _"That insolent. . ."_

 _"Hey, hey, hey!" The blunette interrupted before Seijuurou went full Hitler. Who knows what he was capable of even when being distances away? "Sei-kun, he won't do anything!"_

 _"I don't trust that guy, Tetsuya. He looks like he's crushing on you since last year of high school."_

 _Said Tetsuya snorted and laughed, like actually laughed!; "Whaa. . . No, Sei-kun! He's just my best friend." After a long pause, the blunette added, "Okay?"_

 _There was not a single response at first. ". . . Alright, love." He spoke through gritted teeth, "Safe ride."_

 _"I love you," Tetsuya chimed in, but Seijuurou already closed the line. Stupid boyfriend with his jealousy._

 _It was then Kagami decided to slip in his dorm room, prepared with his own stuffs inside a duffel bag latching on one shoulder. He was already wearing sportswear, a sleeveless jersey, short pants and a pair of Nike shoes. The ball was tucked under his forearm, and he was playing with his keys, rattling it with a show off attitude. The blunette crooked one brow, scrutinising the sight before snorting a "really?" toward his friend._

 _"I can't wait to test out the truck," Kagami grinned, "So, hurry up!"_

 _Tetsuya rolled his eyes, "Everyone got their license a year ago and look at you. . ."_

 _"Oi!" The taller man had his face beet red, "I'm sorry I had my license late," he frowned._

 _The blunette gave a small grin, "Alright, let's go."_

 _Before he finally left the room, the blunette sent a text_ ― _he knew it would take most of his credits, then again, it was for his beloved Akashi Seijuurou_ ― _"I'm sorry, love. I can't wait till you come back for sem break, then you'll give me a proper ride ;)"_

 _He snorted toward his own text. Tetsuya was a simple man, after all. Such emojis or emoticons or those cutesy texts that usually high school girls send to their boyfriends are rarity for him, and he seldom used it but for the one and only boyfriend he had. Nevertheless, he still found it something to be cringe of._

 _". . . I love you, Sei. Never forget that."_

 _Never forget that. . ._

 _Never forget. . ._

 _Never. . ._

Tetsuya found himself in a different place than the one he was in the morning ― but that wasn't the only thing he had realised by now. Moving his hand toward his face, he found his cheeks red and eyes stung so bad.

Akashi Tetsuya was crying.

"How could I forget. . .?" He sobbed, bringing his knees closer and had his forehead leaning against them; there was guilt settling in his chest, he hated himself for forgetting ― and there was something missing in his memories. Something important. . . "I'm sorry, Sei-kun."

At that moment, he wished that he was safe in the arms of Akashi Seijuurou.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Do you guys still read this actually? I don't know. . . I felt like I'm losing readers cause I updated slowly. Well, yeah who wouldn't? This shit started when I was fucking sixteen mwahahhahaha**

 **Anyway, I really miss you guys! I've been so lonely in FFnet now. AO3 is boring in my opinion, I never would want to migrate ever again.**

 **So yeah, ye know the drill! X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2017)**


	23. Day Twenty-One (Friday)

**Beautiful people :**

 **Pryzmat**

 **masuchii**

 **Shibue Miyuu**

 **3**

 **Guest**

 **Guest**

 **LucasZorro**

 **ShiroNoHikari**

 **jesus**

 **You guys are still so loyal! I'm like, so touched and currently am feeling sappy. Was it the 80s music? I don't know. . . I even start listening to Bobby Darin, like whoa. . . I never really listen to the 80s but after watching Netflix and how they have tendencies to give this old vibe, I really like it! I WANNA WRITE 80S VIBES EEK**

 **AND THANKS FOR THE WELCOME WISH AHAHAHA**

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 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY TWENTY-ONE**

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 **NINE MORE DAYS**

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 **Friday**

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" _We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck. But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness. "  
― __Ellen Goodman_

* * *

For a man such as Akashi Seijuurou, he was known for his strength and leadership as well as his capabilities of solving every problems by his own.

Though, for conditions such as what was happening at the current moment, one could simply stated that said powerful man (perhaps on Earth, as to what Sakura would always be gleeful about ― "Otousan is the greatest, of course!") was at the mishap shape, totally chaotic and perplexed.

Perhaps, there was a reason why there were two other men inside his house, aiding him to tend to his daughter and well, waiting for a word to be spoken from him. Yet, Seijuurou feigned silent. Not that he was supposed to ignore them, instead he was feeling groggy than ever before.

He probably did not get the chance for any winks of sleep at night, resulting himself to feed on more coffee, in fact, it was his fifth in the morning and he groaned to open the freezer for yet another microwaved meal.

By the counter, Sakura was grumbling ― certainly not satisfied with the conditions of her own godfather. She wanted to help! ― but what can a five-year old do?

" _Otou-san_ , can we buy the breakfast set over in Maji's? I'm tired of eating plastic-tasting carrots," whined Sakura slowly, her cheeks plopping by the surface.

The redhead glanced at her, blinked for a few times, then towards the other two; on which, they only gave a shrug as their meek response.

"What in the world happened between you and Tetsuya anyway?", the green-haired male started, fixing his glasses back to its place and gave him a curious glint within the striking green pools.

Seijuurou sighed, "We have an argument, Shintarou. I thought that's pretty much obvious."

"He meant from the beginning," Atsushi chimed in. "Why would you and Kuro-chin fought in the first place?" The tallest man would still call the blunette _Kuro-chin_ despite him already bearing the surname of an Akashi. Well, he didn't really bother with those kind of things anyway.

In the corner, Sakura was glancing to and fro between her godfather holding an uneasy expression and toward the counter on which she was eating a three day old Jell-O. She would need to resupply her snacks by her own very soon. "Uh. . . _Otou-san_ wouldn't like it if ―"

"No, it's fine Sakura. . ." he sighed, "It's my fault entirely, right love?"

"N-no!" The five-year old raised her voice, "Sakura-chan doesn't think that way! _Otou-san_ is just, er. . . Confused!"

Midorima Shintarou blinked, "An Akashi? Confused?" He snickered, "That would have sounded very humorous back when we were in high school ―"

"Shintarou, I would really kill you if you said another word."

Apparently, upon his statement, the room suddenly turned cold like a winter's weather. The green-haired man did not speak a word afterwards, a long pause in the ionised air, he felt himself tensed but he maintained a degree of his cold gaze upon the redhead. Beside him, Atsushi could only sigh and Sakura was cold to her feet ― frightened.

It was the purple-haired male who broke the tension, "Well, that's the high school Aka-chin we knew," he snorted a snicker, on which the said male just sighed.

"You guys are not helping."

"Oh, we are. . ." they both said at the same time before glancing toward each other, "But you know you gotta deal with him by your own, Aka-chin" ― Atsushi said ― "It's only a matter of time before. . . you get what I meant."

"Well, if you excuse us. . ." Midorima stood up, grabbing his case but not before ruffling the girl's head affectionately, "Would you like to try staying at my house for the night? You remembered Kazunari-san, right?"

Sakura brightened up, "Yeah! You're living with him?" She asked with full curiosity on which the male responded with a low cough and a pink spread across his chin. " _Otou-san_ , can I. . .?"

"Sure, love," Seijuurou feigned a genuine, warm smile. "Let's get you packed up."

* * *

At some point, Akashi Tetsuya still felt the need to stay in the inn. He contacted Kagami-kun, again, but well, his memories were all jumbled up and he was confused and probably comfort from a close friend would do him a pretty good number at the moment.

Well, it was quiet at the very least ― no arguments, no crashing doors on which the resonance spread along the tight-spaced corridors.

"Oi Kuro," the man grunted, "You're freaking me out, man! Where the hell are you right now?!"

"Still at the same place, I think. . ."

"You think? Motherfucker. . . Do you want me to ―"

"No, Kagami-kun! I ―" he paused, swallowing, "I don't know. . . I. . . I want to call Sei-kun."

He could hear him gasp from the other line, "Are you freaking serious? That sonuva ―"

"No, please. . . Kagami-kun," his voice hardened, "Don't say that. Don't call me that. . ." another pause drawled on, he pursed his lips and brows crooked, "You know what, never mind."

And the call ended just like that.

Even with the supposedly tranquility which enveloped the whole space, saved by the noise clattering about by tourists and locals outside the streets, his mind was troubled and he was feeling rather agitated than before.

It was almost a week since he had been out of his house. A freaking week ― _Kami_ , was Sakura alright? Was she eating well? What about the bunch of journals he haven't posted in his own blog, the advertisement company must have called ― how come he never noticed?! ― Satsuki and his other friends must have been concerned as well.

And Sei-kun.

Poor, poor Seijuurou.

In a way, the blunette felt that he should not have just reckless ran away with any roads to follow, no purpose to head toward to. He was probably just as lost as his own lover as well. Tetsuya decided to check the contents of his bag. Other than a couple of shirts and jeans, a jacket, there was a polaroid with several pictures and piece of paper tucked beneath the device.

He picked the one viewing them in Philippines. The chiseled visage of his husband, every lines and corners that he remembered caressing them every night; concerned double-coloured eyes, gazing upon his own pallid blue ― intently searching for something within.

As much as he hated to admit it, but Tetsuya was missing his husband at the moment. He felt his own heart melting at the thought of him, whatever flames shaping his heart to pure stone was long gone and instead he was caught with waves of longing.

Night time was a raining galore, the streets washed with skies' damned tears and thunders blaring constantly from above. Such a gloomy setting by the horizon, such a dangerous time to venture outside ― but it was like the blunette was a lover and a sucker for rain, he passed along the soaking vendor streets, strolling by the mollifying town of Kyoto.

The blunette did not realised the approaching figure behind him till he felt the rain slowly subsided from above him, and yet not from his sight. Tetsuya turned around, gasped and stumbled when he was faced with none other than his lover.

"S-S-Sei!"

"Tetsuya, let's go home."

"W-Wait!"

The other Akashi did not speak another word. Gently, he held Tetsuya by his wrist and led him toward his vehicle waiting at the other side of the road. The smaller male felt the need to retaliate, to fight back, to scream at Seijuurou to wait. Yet, his energy seemed to drain ― all his emotions faded, and he felt his eyes stung; briny tears streaming down his face and he halted his steps.

"Sei-kun. . . Wait. . ."

It was due to the weak whimper, soft and mellow and god damned pathetic, the redhead finally stopped and turned. His gaze was cold, staring upon the wavering blue eyes, yet Tetsuya knew ― he just knew ― the man in front of him had been so frightenened as well.

"Can we just. . . go home now?"

"No. . ." he pleaded, "I don't know. . ." he was sobbing, "Seijuurou, I need to talk to you. We," the blunette sucked on a lump of air, "We need to talk this out."

The redhead did not hesitate but pulled him into a tight embrace, forsaking his umbrella by ditching it somewhere and by his face so close to Tetsuya's own, he heard the low, almost inaudible cries belonging to Seijuurou as well.

Of course. . . How can he be so stupid?

Of course, he wanted to talk too. Of course, he wanted to sort things out together. Of course, Akashi Seijuurou ― this one, powerful man who could probably hire a hitman and escape from such crime, perhaps ― was hurting as well in this very situation. Of course, he wanted everything to be the same as before.

Young, foolish people with nothing but empty dreams.

But they were happy back then; they were better.

"Fine. . ." Tetsuya whispered, finding his hand tucking crimson strands to one ear, he kissed the redhead's forehead, "Let's go home."

* * *

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It was supposed to be better.

It was supposed to be a conversation, and yes, they were supposed to sort things out.

But neither of them spoke, Seijuurou leant against the vertical space of counter with a bottle of Brandy's in his grasp, he took large swings and emptied another one within the night. Tetsuya, all soaked, and draped with towels they managed to grab by in the guest's bedroom, sat in the opposite corner, sulking and contemplating on what to speak.

They already passed by midnight, and the whole surroundings were a constant buzzing peace. Yet, these two people in opposite corners remained unspoken, not looking at each other and occasionally sighed or groaned from their own trance.

Finally, it was Seijuurou who broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Tetsuya, I ―"

"I'm sorry, Sei-kun."

The redhead blinked, then he suddenly roared in a rare release of a snorting kind of laughter; "It's not your fault, Tetsuya. . ."

"Why are you finding this funny?"

"I'm not. . ."

"Why are you like this then?"

"I'm trying to ―" the redhead blinked again, realising the fact that his voice was high in volume. He sucked his breathe, and opened his eyes, "I started it, remember?"

The blunette paused for a long time, "I'm not so sure about it anymore."

There was another moment of silence. . . Seijuurou was the one to break it once more; "Love. . ." he drawled slowly, Tetsuya swore the hairs on his forearm rose, he was feeling cold all over, "Come here," ordered the redhead.

"No."

"Then, I'm coming towards you."

"No. . ."

Seijuurou crawled closer, nevertheless.

"No. . . Please. . ." Tetsuya closed his eyes, covering his ears with both palms.

He was getting closer, and faster.

"No ―"

The blunette felt a semblance of warmth, a sense of affection and longing within the touch. The chilly, intoxicated air suddenly became warmer, and there was comfort. He felt his breathing regained a normal pace once again, he felt his arms circling the lean body and fingers scraping the hems of his dress shirt.

A long embrace, not too tight yet not too loose.

They both parted, not too long, before Seijuurou leaned forward to claim the awaited, plump lips of Tetsuya. He gave entrance right away, and Seijuurou get to taste the sweet cavern and explore the feeling he missed for so long. They pulled apart yet again, and dive in for a second course of the night.

Sloppy and messy and chaotic and hasty ― all similar as to their lives right now. But it did not really matter. . . Both of them felt good, both felt that nostalgic feeling of giddiness and excitement, and Seijuurou felt the need to nibble on the smaller male's lips. A giggle escaped his lips, for a long moment, sienna and crimson gazed upon pallid azure.

"I missed you," both of them chimed in.

When they broke apart for real, but still clinging against each other, Seijuurou chuckled lowly, "See, it's not too bad. . ."

Tetsuya smiled, gulping in response. "We still need to talk."

"Of course, love. . ."

They both shuffled to a much comfortable position, the blunette playing with the collar of Seijuurou's shirt, his tone was low and serious and his eyes which were previously mellow started to harden.

"Let's begin."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : Haa hahhahahah I left y'all hanging but you get the good part mwahahahhahaha**

 **Anyway, what's this? Another update? Mozuchii, ARE YOU INSANE?**

 **YES I AM! MWAHAHAHHAA**

 **X FOR LOVE, O FOR HATE!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2017)**


	24. EXTRA II NOTICE

**REVIEWS (Before replacement chapter) :**

 **Ryan Mashall**

 **HeteroChromium**

 **Sakamaki Hikaru**

 **Cheshire ShiroNeko - I like your suggestions ahahahahha**

 **ShiroNoHikari**

 **AizawaMio**

 **NoahEarlGraves**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **BONUS CHAPTER + NOTICE**

 **KAGAMI IS AN ANGEL**

 **Warning : It's fucking short**

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Akashi Seijuurou was nothing but bad news that he should have steered clear since high school. It wasn't just because of the high and mighty attitude he had, or the fact that he might have some bipolar disorder ― or was it multiple personality? ― or that psychopathic tendencies of his. The possessiveness the kingly Akashi had was the most fatal, according to Kagami Taiga, on which he witnessed multiple times throughout his life.

And in college, it was much worst due to the fact that Seijuurou and Tetsuya were already being deep in love and totally attached to the hip like opposite magnets. Perhaps, Kagami himself was a fool to follow the (forced) orders ― request? That was totally Tetsuya ― made by Seijuurou that everyone in the Generation of Miracles should ended up in the same university or at least universities close to each other.

Somehow, due to the fact that Kagami and Tetsuya bounded to in the same college, plus room mates and they were best friends since the start of high school, the shorter redhead seemed to target him a lot. Even with their height differences, Kagami often felt like a deer caught in headlights, or a small animal preyed by a werewolf.

There had always been this unknown competition, at least to Seijuurou, between them two of them. Like, whoever caught his attention first won; whoever got the seat beside the somewhat oblivious blunette, whoever hangs with him during the weekend, and so on, and so on. . .

If the tall redhead would still be in college, he would have not bothered to care. He wouldn't try to interfere with danger, he wouldn't try to bloom that fiery feeling in his chest for something else. He would try to push those little crush he had, yes he admitted that, toward the pallid blunette with lifeless yet gleaming eyes. No. . .

But for now, he couldn't really cared about his stupid feelings and the fact that Tetsuya had somehow chosen a man who turned out to be a fool as well.

He knew that after his call with Tetsuya, he needed to do the right thing.

Twitching fingers against glass-clad screen, lit in a dark room which was his apartment, the air thick with cigarette smoke, flumes floating to the upper surface within each drag escaped his chapped lips. The sing-song tunes of a dialing pattern rang throughout the echoing silence, and there was the caller tune before a rasped voice rose in the air. Kagami drew in oxygen, for the first time, he was surprised by the desperation held within that voice.

"First of all, I'm going to make this clear," the ex-American citizen crushed the cigarette onto the surface of his coffee table and flickered it somewhere else, he growled; "I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Tetsu."

The pause was clear, Seijuurou was obviously trying to process his words. The wonders of alcohol ― even a proclaimed king himself was weak against it, his brain was human after all. The man was slurring his words, irritatingly sloppy and languid. "W. . . What do you," a coughing fit, "want. . ."

Kagami pinched the bridge of his nose, he sighed. "I want you to fetch Tetsuya."

"W-w-what. . ."

"I know where he is. . ." The words hung in the air, lingering for a matter of seconds before he continued, "But first, you need to hella sober up. Here, I'll text you the inn he's staying in."

"Oh. . ."

"Look, you fucker," Kagami raised his voice slightly, "I'm trusting you to make things right. After all. . ." he breathed, "He trusts you more."

". . . You. . ." a snicker from the other line, "You're not much of an insolent twat after all."

"Son of a bitch."

The two of them laughed.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **NOTICE**

 **OKAY GUYS! HERE'S A MIRACLE.**

 **I CAN ACCESS FANFICTION THROUGH BOOKMARKS AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IDK HOW IT JUST WORKS**

 **I'M NOT LOSING YET! THIS SHALL SURVIVE TILL THE END!**

 **PS I want angsty fan arts. JK-**

 **Mozu : I really need to fix the story. A part of me wants to post a new story to make a revised edition, a part of just wants to edit it after everything ends. I plot this story like. . .** **I** **n 2014 or 2015 something. I kinda forgot about the flow since I changed laptops, like a lot. So until Chapter 10, the docs are all. . .** **G** **one. Hahhhhh**

 **Here's the explanation, Saturday's coming soon guys!**

 **Anyway, please feed me quotes. I need sappy quotes.**

 **AND WHO WATCH BNHA! I'M GONNA WRITE KATSUDEKU TEEHEEEHEEEHEE**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2017)**


	25. Day Twenty-Two (Saturday)

**Reviewers :**

 **Sakamaki Hikaru**

 **Cheshire Shironeko**

 **ShiroNoHikari**

 **AizawaMio**

 **NoahEarlGraves**

 **Ryan Mashall**

 **Jay Dawn (Thanks for the support!)**

* * *

 **Love Me For Thirty Days**

 **DAY TWENTY-TWO**

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 **EIGHT MORE DAYS**

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 **Saturday**

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 _Wake up and look me in the eyes again  
I need to feel your hand upon my face  
Words can be like knives  
They can cut you open  
And then the silence surrounds you  
And haunts you_

― _Bloodstream, Stateless_

* * *

 _W_ _e need to talk._

 _W_ _e always do._

What was so wrong about verbal communication? What made someone, who already had a long list of reasons and explanation, and the words ready at the tip of the tongue to simply _stop all effort_ and did nothing. . .

In the end.

What happened to all courage? What happened to the determination, and _that_ particular desire to make everything right.

It seemed stupid how there would be no conversation as a result, everything was blank, everything _went_ _wrong_. It seemed stupid that when you missed a word, everything became haywire.

"Let's begin."

It drawled on a bit longer, the two of them, despite being knee to knee.

 _Close._

But it felt like distances apart. Pallid blue against pure sienna and blood crimson.

"Well. . . Maybe I should start. . ." Tetsuya was the one to break the silence, he felt his hand gripped by the other tightly, the pressure pushing to his senses more clearly as time went by. "Um. . . I'm sick."

Seijuurou inched a little too close. "I know."

"In the head," he breathed, "It's all fuzzy. It's a blur, my past, your face, my name. . . They disappear and then they came back, and then they do it all over again. It's. . . _T_ _errifying._ "

And, it made him felt _lonely_.

 _Scared._

I'll _screw up._

 _A_ _gain,_ and _again._

Something changed in Seijuurou's expression. Clearly, the anger was apparent _―_ his brows were scrunched up, lips to a taut line, yet he loosened the grip; Tetsuya felt him going cold.

He was all so. . . r _iled up._

Tetsuya paused, he drew a breathe to appease the other, Seijuurou knew he was trying to. A sigh rose and he nudged the pale blunette. "What else are you feeling?"

"Huh?"

"Why were you scared? You could have just. . ." he breathed, "walked away. . ."

The shorter male clasped his lips, "I would want to. I really do. . . I was thinking about it. But I'm scared if I walked out, I'll be even more lonely. And yes, for a couple of days, you were really really harsh on me. We made out on the second day, and you were just so. . ."

"Cold. . ."

" _Brutally_ cold," the blunette finished and he snorted a gentle laugh. "But at least, every day. . . You came back and there was at least someone I could look at. And knowing that I could see you everyday before everything's gone, it's enough for me." He peeled away from their closed intimacy, bringing his knees together for his own embrace, burying a scarlet face into hiding. "And that's. . . That's selfish, too. I could walk out if I want to, I could leave you out from this trouble but I dragged you into it. I made _the deal_ and it's stupid."

"It isn't. . . The deal, it _worked_."

Azure pools became colder, prominent, a curious wonder and desire of confirmation. "Does it?"

"I want to _believe_ that it worked. . ."

Another lingering pause. Brief, but dreadful. For a split second, Tetsuya shifted his gaze to look upon the time, it marked an extremely early morning and the sign that they should hit the hay earlier.

It's late.

It's _too late_.

He continued, "Then, why is it so chaotic?"

Both of his hands were clasped, and this time, the pressure was around his wrist. Two colours _―_ a set of warm colours meant to melt and burn and spark, the hues of bright ember and deep crimson like late dawn, burst straight into his cooling gaze, and he was _surprised_.

 _Surprise!_

 _Emotions._ It was confusing and toxic and very much like them. _T_ _oxicity_.

They're feeding on _toxic._

Desperation. A need to fulfil their own desires, their own ego, their own righteous reasons.

"Because we're just humans, love. And we can't control what we plan, even if we wanted it so badly. _Love doesn't follow a plan,_ I never even meant to love you once again but look!" He shook the frail blunette, "Look at me! I'm here, and I'm loving you once again, and this isn't what I want few weeks ago. I wanted to bail, I wanted another fiery relationship, I wanted difference and yet I'm caught up with all these. It's because we're humans. . ."

Releasing both wrists, he brought one palm to the cherub cheek, his fingertips smoothed against the contours, like Tetsuya might break in any moment.

And well, he did.

He didn't cry, at least. But the fact that his lips were quivering just as same as the rest of his body, Tetsuya pulled the other for an embrace _―_ and he became more and more _afraid._

"Thank you," was all he muttered. But for now, it was sufficient.

They stayed for a matter of minutes, in each others' arms, their fingers drawing circles against their backs, rocking to and fro with a slow rhythm.

"Next story," Tetsuya continued, breaking the tranquility. "The cause."

"Finally," Seijuurou smiled, and the other responded.

"Remember when we were nineteen, Kagami and I were heading to basketball camp?"

For a moment, he was thinking before the memory registered into his head. "That time? The truck hit a tree right? You said it was just a light incident."

"For Kagami, yeah. . . He broke a leg and had some bruises, and that's it," the blunette's voice started to be lower by each word, "I thought I was fine even though I was unconscious for three days prior to the accident. I had a concussion but that was it. . . Until, well. . . Last year."

"Last year. . . and Taiga. . . _Kami_."

"No, no. . . Kagami-kun didn't know! The aftereffects of this only started last year, when Sakura appeared in front of our doorstep and I was genuinely confused first. I thought she was a scouts girl _―_ I even asked her! And she was horrified at first, but then she thought I was joking. I started to misplace things, I forgot my meals and well. . ." he made some sort of explosion motion, "chaos."

"Wow. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

Seijuurou closed his eyes, drawing an amount of air to register what was happening. He dropped his head against one shoulder, his lips pecking the clothed skin. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. . ." Tetsuya brought his own hand to play along the scarlet strands. "Now. . . It's your turn."

"Right," he gritted his teeth. Unlike Tetsuya's story, his was not a sympathetic one. He was downright the antagonist, the cause of everything (and maybe, just _maybe_ , his father contributed to that as well). "She was someone who worked under my father's branch first," he began slowly, "Yui was. . . Well, she wasn't much at first. She never caught my attention, until there was this fancy gala like ten months ago, you know in. . ."

"Dad's new office in Busan, right?"

"Right. . ." he chuckled, "Hey, you remembered _―_ "

"Continue, please."

"Oh, alright. . ." the Akashi heir snorted a laugh, before placing his head against Tetsuya's shoulder again, it was comforting. "The thing is, father really likes her as an asset. He told me _―_ _"I'd like her to give me an heir"_ _―_ and well, at first I refused. Of course, since I had you. But he never really knew about us, didn't he?" Tetsuya shook his head, and smiled. They were after all, secretly married, and the private affair only remained in Japan. "So, of course he told Yui all about me being single for like ten years. She was hesitant as well, at first, but we get to know each other."

He paused, gulping.

Tetsuya crooked his brow, "And then?"

"You know Tetsuya. . . She was a strong person, very much like you."

"Wh _―_ _"_

"I'm sorry for saying that. But you know how my work is. . . I spent eight months without you by my side, eight months all around the world sorting out new headquarters _―_ _all_ because of _him_ _―_ and each day, I was missing you, I got caught up in her company. In July, Father said I could go back to Japan and well, it was unexpected that she was following suit as well. It was then, I told her about you. She was. . . She became different, even more hesitant than before but this time, it was me. . ."

"She was a replacement, huh. . ." In a way, Seijuurou noticed a small smile beaming on his lips, as if there was a glint of pride in him. The redhead rolled his eyes and snorted. "Of course, you were all my firsts."

Tetsuya retorted. "I'm not saying anything."

"Your face says everything, love." He peeled himself from the cuddle, just so he could look against cerulean once again.

He relinquished the remaining peace, fondling the other's hands with pure gentleness. The blunette drew themselves together, and it was his turn to have a tight grip, however, on the hems of his fabric. "I don't really care about that, I. . ." he sucked in a long pull of air, "I just want to be your last. . ." eyes shifted away, "At least, my last. . ."

"You will," the redhead quickly interjected, "I promise."

"Promise? Really?"

It wasn't by purpose, but it had been so quick that the question almost sounded sarcastic. Caught by shock, the redhead said nothing but to gaze upon the wavering azure. Maybe he had somewhat _deserved_ that. But _Kami_ knew, it had hurt him quite as much as the pain he inflicted to Tetsuya once.

"I want to mean it this time. . . I know I was an idiot back then. In fact, I'm nothing more but a desperate, insolent bastard. I know I don't deserve you anymore. I left you in high school, and I left you again."

The other had his head lowered, speaking nothing, feeding him with more anxious feelings. There wasn't any _―_ _it's okay I forgive you_ _―_ and that terrified him as much.

"But I won't be stupid again, Tetsuya." He brought the pale hand closer to his chest, "You can hurt me if I do, even kill me. But please, don't make me a fool once again."

He heard a tiny sob not long after, and perhaps. . . just perhaps, it had been too much for Tetsuya to take it all in.

"Don't you say that. . ." he whimpered.

"But _―_ "

"Don't say that ever again," repeated the blunette, much louder than before. The hand placed against his chest curled into a fist and he hit the other real hard, "You're the one who said that we're humans after all, and it's okay to make mistakes. And now, you're telling me it's alright to hurt you and all this shit! Do you even hear yourself, _Akashi_?"

Again, Seijuurou was very, very shocked.

"I've forgiven you, Seijuurou. I understand now. . . We're both. . ." he laughed, wiping the tiny droplets at the corner of one azure eye, "Stupid."

". . . Yeah. . ."

"I'm tired," the blunette complained. He rose up just to slump his body against the redhead, and the crashed against the hard, cold surface. Seijuurou chuckled anyway, sneaking one arm inside his clothing.

Two bodies huddling together, in search for warmth. They listened to the rhythm of other things, the droplets from the sink, the tap-tap-tapping outside ( _Kami_ knows what). For a moment, it was enough.

Seijuurou brought his face to the pale blunette's forehead, his lips kissing against the feverish skin. Strong arms around frail body, and thin arms around a lean figure, they remained in embrace and it was all they need.

"Me too."

"I've been counting, Sei. . ." Tetsuya drawled his words into a whisper.

The redhead, pretty much exhausted from all the past days, languidly perked up. "Hm. . .?"

"One week more."

"Oh. . ." he swallowed heavily, finding any ounce of energy to tighten their embrace. _Fear_ wallowing in his chest, gnawing every bit of his soul, haunting him like a ghost with a calendar. "Then, let us. . . Let's make one week worth."

"The deal, you mean?"

Akashi Seijuurou, for the first time, agreed _―_ "The deal, it is."

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

* * *

 **Mozu : This chapter has a weird format. Mostly monologue with the emphasis by using italics. It's to press that word, imagine you're speaking in this context, you're pressing your tongue in each syllable and that italics is a sign where you raise your voice.**

 **A** **t the same time, these are not conversations.**

 **T** **hese are from a mind, from an emotion, from a desire to express and from whom?**

 **It's ambiguous. Maybe it's from both of them, they're both angry at each other and they're also angry at themselves.** **C** **hapters after chapters, they're asking, "Why are we fools?" because simply, it is human to be that way.**

 **Or perhaps, it's from me. I'm tired too. I'm tired of what happened in my childhood and how it haunted me, and this is my expression.**

 **And maybe, just maybe. . .** **T** **his anger. I want it to be a catalyst. I want to reach out to you too. Feel that anger. Feel how you'd imagine as one of them, feel on how you feel when you experienced this at the age of ten.**

 **Feel.**

 **Because in the end, no matter how much we want to keep it all in, our jar is meant to be full.**

 **And that's the moment you break.**

 **Okay, stop.**

 **B** **ack to format; since this is the chapter where it's just The Talk, next chapter will have several time skip (in a matter of hours, duh). So yeah, I'll only highlight the importance in this chapter.**

" **Love doesn't follow a plan!" South Park references HAHAHAH**

 **X for love, O for hate!**

 **-Mozu The Mochi (2017)**


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